Roast chicken with preserved lemon butter. I don’t like to handle whole chicken BUT I love roast chicken and I love the idea of it at the dinner table. I feel it’s one of those recipes like vanilla cake and brownies that every home cook should know how to make.
This recipe is based on @ottolenghi’s from the book Simple. Please try it, it’s so worth it.
Roast Chicken with Preserved Lemon Butter
Prep time:
Cook time:
Serves:
- Times
- Description
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- Ingredients
- Method
- Notes
- Nutrition
BY YASMINE IDRISS
Roast chicken with preserved lemon butter. I don’t like to handle whole chicken BUT I love roast chicken and I love the idea of it at the dinner table. I feel it’s one of those recipes like vanilla cake and brownies that every home cook should know how to make.
This recipe is based on @ottolenghi’s from the book Simple. Please try it, it’s so worth it.
INGREDIENTS
- 70g unsalted butter, softened
- 3 tbsp fresh or dry thyme leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- I small whole preserved lemon (without pips(, roughly chopped (about 30g)
- Zest of I lemon
- 1-2 tbsp juice, to drizzle
- 1.5kg I whole chicken
- salt and black pepper
METHOD
- 1)
Preheat the oven to 200C or 190C fan
- 2)
Place the ingredients (except the chicken!) in the bowl of a small blender and mix until smooth and combined.
- 3)
Place the chicken in a roasting tin, legs pointing towards you.
- 4)
Gently separate the skin from the flesh (same technique for turkey) and stuff the butter in between those 2 layers.
- 5)
Stuff 2/3 and even more of the butter under the skin and use the rest to spread it onto the exterior of the chicken (skin).
- 6)
Season with more freshly cracked pepper.
- 7)
At this point you can cover and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours before roasting.
- 8)
When ready, squeeze half a lemon on it and roast for about 70min, basting with the juices every now and then.
- 9)
To make sure it’s cooked, the skin should be nice and golden and the juices from the thickest part of the thigh should run clear.
- 10)
You can put a lemon or half an onion in the cavity, we used lemon grass.
Notes
Serve with rustic bread or roast potatoes and garlic paste (toum). Enjoy!