Sofrito Roast Chicken
I blended two recipes, one by Jamie Oliver (Jamie’s Dinners) and a Yotam Ottolenghi (Jerusalem). Yotam’s is obviously a lot more complicated and involves multiple pans, Jamie’s is a one pan recipe, but lacks the flavours that are in Yotams, so I borrowed the best from each recipe.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Chicken
- 1 Lemon
- 500 grams potatoes, peeled & cut into 4cm chunks Halved Charlotte potatoes are perfect for this dish
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
- 2 tablespoons Rapeseed Oil
- 1 Onion, peeled and quartered
- 4-6 Garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
- Salt & pepper
- Mixed herbs thyme/rosemary/bay
- Chopped Parsley/mint/coriander
Instructions
- Put the potatoes in a pan with cold water, turn on the heat and leave for 10 minutes (it will start to boil after about 4-5 minutes)
- Mix the spices, oil, juice of the lemon, salt and pepper in a small bowl - save the lemon skin to stuff in the chicken
- Add the onions, garlic and drained potatoes into a large bowl - you can at this point add chopped sweet peppers and or aubergine if you like
- Pour over 3/4 of the spice mix and stir gently
- Prepare the chicken, stuff with the lemon skin and bunch of herbs (thyme, rosemary)
- Pour the potato mix into a baking tray and place the chicken on a grill rack above the potatoes
- Coat the chicken with the remaining spice mix
- Cook at gas mark 5 until the chicken is 75c (approximately 1 1/2 hours)
- When the chicken is cooked, remove to rest
- Gently turn the potatoes in the gorgeous juices and return to the oven to brown off - aim for gnarly - here I added a few asparagus that I had
- Spread the potato mix on a large platter and serve the carved chicken on top, with a flurry of chopped herbs
- Serve with a collection of middle eastern salads and a good red wine - Bon Appétit PS> The flurry of fresh herbs were still on the chopping board, when I took the photos!
