Serves:
4
Pot roasted chicken
This is a wholesome meal that is easy to prepare using fresh ingredient including a whole chicken and fresh vegetables. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and is cooked in the oven over about an hour leaving you plenty of time to complete other chores. There is no requirement to serve with other vegetables as these are included in the preparation.
For weight loss omit the potatoes.
Ingredients
1
whole chicken (medium for 4 people, large for 6 people)
6
golden shallots
2
sprigs of rosemary
2
sprigs of thyme
1
leek
2
large carrots
2
sticks of celery
1
potato
500
millilitres
chicken stock
2
thick slices of pancetta
2
cloves of garlic finely chopped
100
millilitres
white wine
50
grams
butter
50
grams
olive tapenade
Method
1.Preheat the oven to 180 °C (356 °F).
2.Allow the butter to soften at room temperature and mix thoroughly with the olive tapenade.
3.Incise the skin of the chicken over both breasts and both thighs, create a pocket beneath the skin using your finger and then push the olive and butter mix under the skin making sure that there is an even overage over the meat.
4.Coarsely chop the vegetables and halve the shallots. Chop the pancetta into medium sized pieces.
5.Heat the oil in a medium sized rough iron cooking pot on the stove top.
6.Sauté the vegetables with the garlic and pancetta for approximately 5 minutes.
7.Add the wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate over a period of about 3 minutes.
8.Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
9.Place the whole sprigs of rosemary and thyme and then place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
10.Coarsely chop the potatoes and add these around the edge of the chicken.
11.Put a lid on the pot and transfer to a preheated oven for 1 hour for a medium chicken and 1 hour 20 minutes for a large chicken.
12.Remove the lid and cook for a further 10–15 minutes.
13.Divide the chicken with a large pair of kitchen shears and serve with the vegetables and juice.