Christmas 2013 - Rosemary & Lemon Roasted Chicken

Time flies so fast, another 2 more days we have to say bye bye to 2013 and say hi hi to 2014. No matter what, life still goes on. So enjoy till the max while you still can! Here's another post related with my Christmas this year. Though I'm not celebrating but we still enjoyed this public holiday with family at home.

On Christmas day, I've prepared a special lunch for my hubby and my kids. Yeah, it is something I've never done before - a full course set lunch!  It was not in purpose, but my son reminds me of it when he says he wanted a roast turkey this Christmas. Thought of Yee Ling's Rosemary roast chicken and myself also wish to roast a whole chicken for a very long time. So Christmas is the best time to roast one correct?

 

Followed Yee Ling's recipe and play around other dried herbs which I still have from the fridge. I also refer to Jamie Oliver's recipe as well on how to handle or roast a whole chicken. Prepared all the ingredients and clean the chicken (remove most of the fats).Marinate the chicken and let it rest in the fridge for a night for best result.

 

Don't worry too much about the ingredients, you can always add others according to your preference. The morning, I just cut potatoes, big onions, carrots and mushrooms. In Jamie's recipe, he boiled the potatoes and carrots in advance. Pat it dry and place at the bottom of the baking tray together with other ingredients. Bring out the marinated chicken and massage for a while then place on top of the vegetables.. Do not throw away the marinated juice. Slightly pour over the vegetables to absorb the goodness. I smells lemon everywhere!!

So here you are my Rosemary and Lemon Roasted Chicken. But there are still rooms for me to improve. While I was waiting for the roasted chicken, I prepared for other side dishes.

Mushroom soup I just used Campbell. Grab a baguette from Tesco and spread with butter. Sprinkled chopped garlic with some dried parsley. Bake in the oven until golden brown.

 

To balance the whole meal, we should take more vegetables. Then I simply prepared a bowl of salad with simple salad dressing. Due to rainy seasons, vegetables are quite pricey these days.

Lets we have a closer look over my roasted chicken. Once the chicken is cooked perfectly, I remove the whole chicken and the vegetables to a plate and covered with aluminium foil to keep them warm. Then, I made my own brown sauce from the remaining juices - Spoon off the fats from the pan, then add some water and all purpose flour, gradually scrape all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan over the stove to boil. Add in salt and pepper to taste. My sauce was pale in colour, to do the trick I add some Terriyaki sauce and dark soy sauce - just a little bit will do to make the sauce looks brownish.

Our lunch is perfectly served in time. Everyone has a plate, Hebe shared with me some of the chicken with porridge I prepared earlier on. We were too full and didn't had chance to cut the Christmas Log. "Mummy, next time you make this again ok?" said Calvin @_@!!!

P/S: My verdict, the chicken is tender and taste good when it is marinated overnight. It definitely suits the kids at home because it is not spicy and it is only herbs and lemon.

I'm sharing and linking this post to "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipe Collection 2013" event hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out this Christmas season.