Incredible Roast Chicken & Flavour Bomb Gravy
Cook Time
100 minutes
Prep Time
5 minutes
Serves
5
Crispy, golden roast chicken with succulent fall of the bone tender meat, and a chicken gravy so full of flavour that you’ll want to drink it right from the jug.
Ingredients
- 2kg organic free range whole chicken
- 1 bulb of garlic, sliced in half
- ½ cup of dried mushrooms - shiitake, porcini or chanterelle are good options
- 6-8 sage leaves (plus extra for decoration - optional)
- 1 leek, washed, white part cut into rounds
- 6 slices of streaky bacon, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 25g butter
- 1.5 tbsp plain flour
- 500ml chicken stock
- 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220 C / 450 F. Place your sliced leek, bacon, sage leaves, garlic and mushrooms in a lined roasting tray, drizzle over olive oil
- Place chicken on top of the vegetables then drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. rub into the chicken, including the cavity. Place ½ lemon into the cavity.
- Tie the chicken legs together with roasting twine then place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes.
- After about 30 minutes of roasting, turn the oven temperature to 200C / 400F. Add butter to a saucepan on medium heat, allow to brown slightly then add 1.5 tbsp of plain flour, stir to combine, cook for a couple of seconds.
- Remove the chicken from the oven, transfer to a plate, (the chicken will not be cooked at this point) remove leek, garlic, mushrooms, bacon and sage, add to the saucepan with butter and flour and return the chicken to the roasting tray to continue cooking for the remaining 1 hr and 20 minutes (or 20 minutes per 500g), or until chicken is cooked through internal temperature should read 75 C / 165 F) at the thickest part of the chicken and skin is golden and crispy and juices run clear.
- Add 500ml of chicken stock to the saucepan and bring to a very low simmer, cook gently while the chicken finishes roasting
- Once the chicken is cooked, drain the juices from the roasting tray into the gravy, simmer for another couple of minutes, then strain the gravy through a sieve. Taste and season. Then add to a jug.
- Serve chicken on a platter with herbs (I also had some thyme on hand) and flavour bomb gravy.