Jamie Olivers Perfect Roast Chicken and Consistently Good Gravy

I bought a whole chicken the other day from the supermarket and on Tuesday night I really felt like a nice warm roast meal so made Jamie Olivers recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken.

Ingredients
1 1.6kg free range, organic chicken

2 medium onions

2 carrots

2 sticks celery

1 bulb garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 lemon

small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay and sage

Directions

Preheat the oven to 240 degrees celsius.  Chop the veggies and break the garlic into cloves and leave them unpeeled.

Pile all the vege and the garlic into the middle of the pan and drizzle with olive oil.  Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper rubbing it all over the bird.

Carefully prick the lemon all over and pop in to the microwave for 40 seconds.

Put the lemon inside the cavity with the bunch of herbs.

Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put into the preheated oven.  Turn the heat down immediately to 200 degrees celsius and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

If you are doing roast potatoes and veggies get them in the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.

Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry add a splash of water to the tray.

When cooked take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board.  Cover with foil and tea towel to rest for 15 minutes.

Time to make the gravy!!!

Consistently Good Gravy

Ingredients

As well as the roasted vege from the roast chicken recipe you will need:

1 heaped dessert spoon of flour

a wine glass of red or white wine

1 litre of vege, chicken or beef stock

Directions

Using a spoon remove 90 percent of the hot fat from the tray.  Put the tray on the hob over a high heat.  Add the flour and stir through.  Using a potato masher, mash all the vege to a pulp.  Don't worry if it's lumpy.

You can rip the wings off the chicken and break them up in to the tray to add more flavour at this point.

When everything is mixed and mashed up add the wine to give a little fragrance before you add your stock.  Keep it over the heat and let it boil for a few minutes.

Pour in the stock or boiling water.  Bring everything to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Pour the gravy through a sieve into a bowl.

Discard any meat or vege left behind. 

Serve or put back on the hob to thicken/heat.