Greek-style roast chicken
To achieve maximum juiciness, I like to brine the chicken for 24 hours before cooking.
- Put a layer of sliced red onion on the bottom of a deep baking tray, a cast iron skillet, or a Dutch oven
- Stuff the cavity of a large free-range chicken with some oregano, onion, a lemon wedge, and a lot of garlic, season all over with salt, pepper, and more oregano
- Place the chicken, breast side down, on top of the onions
- Season some new potatoes and slice them in half if they're biggish, then put them around the sides of the chicken
- Add 250ml chicken stock, 50 ml white wine, and a little lemon juice
- Roast for one hour at ~ 180c
- Turn the chicken over so it's breast side up (the potatoes will fall into the space where the chicken was, but that's ok, just rest the chicken on top of them), and check there's still a little liquid in the bottom of the pan (add a drop more stock if neeed be)
- Roast for another 30 mins to an hour (depending on the size of the bird) until done
- Rest and serve with a Greek salad or a simple green salad.
This cooking method totally sacrifices the glorious crispiness of a 'proper' roastie, but because they cook in the stock and juices from the chicken you get a sort of fondant style depth of flavour. Not better, as such, but nice for a change when you don't fancy a trad. roast.
Looks amazing, I'll give this a try soon. Couldn't you baste some butter on top and increase the temp to restore some of the crispness after it's almost cooked through?
You could, but you won't ever get normal roastie levels of potato. They end up soft and mellow with a rich flavour from the stock. Trying to crisp them would, I think, be counterproductive. Still, try it and let us know!