Roast Chicken Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1-2 days brining and 15 minutes resting
Cooking time: 4.5 hours
Serves: 4 with sides
This recipe is best started 24-48 hours ahead of time for brining
Ingredients Needed
For Chicken
- 1.5kg/3.3lb chicken
- 150g/5oz fine or kosher salt
- 1.5 litres/1.6 quarts water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
For Mousse
- 50g/1.7oz scallops, raw
- 50g/1.7oz prawn meat, raw
- 1 egg white (about 30g/1oz)
- 60ml/2fl oz cream
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
For Sauce
- 45g/1.6oz brown sugar
- 45g/1.6oz fish sauce
- 30ml/1oz lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 135g/4.7oz butter
- 3 tablespoons chopped chives
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 BRINING - 1-2 days ahead of time brine the chicken. Dissolve the salt in 1 cup of hot water from a kettle. Then top up with cold water to this mixture (I also throw in some ice cubes) to bring the temperature down quickly. Submerge the chicken in this. If the container is large and your chicken isn't completely submerged, make sure to submerge the breast side. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 days.
Step 2 BUTTERFLY - Drain chicken of the brine (no need to rinse) and pay dry with paper towels until very dry (the dryer the better for crispy skin). Then using sharp kitchen scissors, cut all the way down the backbone of the chicken and lay it out butterflied and flat. Press down on the chicken to flatten it. Place on a baking dish with a rack. Set aside on kitchen bench while you prepare the mousse.
Step 3 MOUSSE - Preheat oven to 100C/212F fan forced or 120C/248F conventional. In a food processor blend the scallops, prawns, egg white, cream and soy sauce until you get a light, moussey texture. Thermomix directions: 15 seconds, speed #6). Using a tablespoon separate the skin from the meat to create as large a pocket as possible. Spoon the mousse inside this cavity. Brush with 1 tablespoon of oil and roast for 4 hours uncovered. Halfway, brush another tablespoon of oil on the skin.
Step 4 BROWN - Turn the oven up to its maximum temperature (home ovens usually go up to 240C/464F). Open up the windows and remove the batteries from your smoke alarm as it may smoke a bit. Brush 1 more tablespoon of oil on the skin and roast for 15 minutes until golden. Not all of the chicken will turn as golden as the breasts but that's ok. Remove and cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes while you make the sauce.
Step 5 SAUCE - Place the brown sugar, fish sauce, lemon juice and garlic powder in a small saucepan and heat on medium heat. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until reduced by half. Remove from heat. Then whisk the butter into the sauce until it has completely melted and you have a gorgeous glossy caramel sauce.
Step 6 SERVE - Carve up the chicken into pieces (see this video on how to carve up a turkey). Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with chives. Replace batteries in smoke alarm! ;)
Personal Note
Eagle eyed readers will notice one thing in the video above for making this chicken. That is a nail polish colour during the chicken prep and the final carving of the chicken. I was not kidding when I said that you don't have to do a lot while it is slow roasting.
So much so that during this time I left to get my nails done. I don't like waiting around for things and I am often trying to do three things at once. Like when the kettle is filling with water from the filter you can bet I am putting something away from the drying rack or washing something.
So with 4 hours of roasting in my future, I told Mr NQN that I'd be back soon. "There's a chicken in the oven but you don't have to do anything about it!" I told him.
And in 1.5 hours I was back in plenty of time to baste the chicken halfway.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you brine chicken before cooking it? And have you ever tried a fish sauce butter before? And are you a multitasker?