For The Love Of Food: How To Roast A Whole Chicken

Hi there! Do you have a special occasion coming up and you are wondering what you could whip up? A stuffed roasted whole chicken is a perfectly good idea. Great for a family meal or just with one special person. It isn't as hard to make as you probably think. I'll show you how.

The trick to making excellent roast chicken is to season it very well from the get go. A tip to note is that a rooster/cockerel (male chicken) is softer and cooks faster than the hen (though some say hens taste nicer).

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

1 big stock cube

1 teaspoon dry ground cayenne pepper (or ground black pepper)

For the stuffing:

1/2 milk cup or 180g long grain parboiled rice

Vegetables

1 Carrot

1 handful green peas (or green beans)

Seasoning

1 medium onion

1 big stock cube

2 teaspoons curry powder (no chilli)

1 teaspoon thyme

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Side Dish: 

Roasted Potatoes

6 medium Irish potatoes

Leftover seasoning from that of the chicken

1 teaspoon thyme.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Getting Ready...

Prepare the blend of seasonings for the body of the chicken by mixing the dry ground pepper,  stock cube (crushed) and a little salt. Scrape and cut the carrots into small cubes and cut the onion into small pieces. Peel and cut the potatoes into wedges. You can leave the skin on if you want.

Making The Stuffing

Parboil the rice like you until it is just soft enough to cut into with your nail. Pour into a colander, rinse of the excess starch and leave to drain. If you will be using only rice as your side dish, you will need to parboil enough rice for this purpose. Put it in a bowl, add the curry powder and mix well.

Add the diced carrots, green peas, diced onions, thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil. Stir well and set aside.

Stuffing The Bird

Wash the chicken and dry with a towel. Stuff it with the seasoned rice and vegetables. Do not over fill it because the rice is only parboiled and it will rise as it cooks. When done, tie the legs of the chicken. This helps the chicken maintain a more presentable shape. You don't want it sagging and all over the place.

Set your oven to 180°C (350°F) to preheat. Rub some vegetable oil lavishly on the chicken, sprinkle the blend of seasonings earlier prepared and rub it all over the body of the chicken thoroughly. Make sure the chicken's wings are tucked away under the chicken or into the string you used to tie up the chicken.

3. Prepare the side dish

If you want to use only rice as your side dish, then you should have prepared enough in the first step

If using potatoes, place the wedges in a bowl, add the remaining seasoning from the one you rubbed on the body of the chicken, add thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil. Toss to evenly distribute the seasonings and set aside.

4. Arrange, then roast

Dish the remaining rice from the stuffing into an oven tray leaving some space at the centre for the chicken. Place the chicken at the center. Add the seasoned potatoes around the chicken and place in the preheated oven and bake for a hour and a half .

The chicken is done when it is golden, the rice inside the chicken is well done and a cut into the chicken thigh shows a white flesh with some succulent juice. If the skin is pinkish or even red, the chicken is not done.

Simple as ABC, but a lot tastier! Bon appetit! Note that you can always experiment with different fillings, till you find your signature roast chicken recipe that is finger-licking delicious!