Milk Roasted Chicken

Milk Roasted Chicken 

At times there happens to be that one recipe which you had your doubts on and then after you create it , it turns out to be one of the best dishes ever. Such is the case with what I would like to call 'The Milk Roasted Chicken'

This recipe is extra special for a number of reasons and to start with the chef who shared it on his website is one of the first chefs I almost fell in love with as a wide eyed high school student. That was a good 8 years ago but his charm remains. Yes its the charming Jamie Oliver. You see before I swore by Larousse Gastronomique and raved about Raymond Blanc's recipes I was an out and out Jamie Oliver Fan not that I still am not. I love some of his stellar recipes.

My first roast turned out fabulous thanks to the guidance of this one celebrity chef. His method of making gravy got me hooked and booked forever. Its one of those stellar recipes. I had almost overlooked this dish and to be fair wasn't too impressed with it when I saw it on his website. Later I came across an article on The Kitchn where the writes raves about how this is the best roast ever and I was yet to buy into the idea.

Then this one lazy afternoon this January I re-read the article on The Kitchn and somehow it seemed intriguing. I casually mentioned it to my good friend and fellow blogger Poorna who assured me of its mind blowing results. Well the assurance from a friend whose taste I respect was reason enough to try it and thank the Lord that I decided to give it a shot because it truly is one of the best roasts ever. Juicy, moist succulent with a lovely crispy skin and this amazing milky gravy with a lemony taste. In fact this was the most succulent and moist roasted chicken I have ever had and I would definitely recommend it to one and all.

The only change I made was using Fresh Parsley instead of sage since we do not easily find sage in most fo the markets of Kolkata.

Before we start I must make it clear that a chicken without its skin wouldn't work for a proper roast. Chicken meat is extremely delicate and without the skin you end up with dry chewy chicken no matter how much you bast the chicken.

Serves 4 to 5

1.5 kilogram chicken with the skin on of course
Zest of 2 lemon
500ml whole milk
3 to 4 tbsp olive oil (You might need a bit of extra oil)
A good handful of fresh Parsley
Salt as per taste
Freshly ground pepper (black) about 2 tsp
10 cloves of garlic with the skin left on

Clean the chicken and take out the giblets and liver and wash and pat dry and then massage it well with salt and freshly ground pepper and leave it for 1/2 an hour and then massage with olive oil and leave it for another 1/2 an hour.

Preheat the oven to 190C . Take a wide bottomed pan which snugly fits the chicken and heat olive oil and sear the chicken till well browned on both sides and decant the pan and take the extra oil out. Place the chicken breast side down and add the milk and then the zest of lemon, garlic and parsley. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes. Bast the chicken with the milk it is roasting in every 20 minutes or so. After an hour of baking take out the chicken and carefully turn it on its back so that you get the crisp skin.

Take out the chicken and wrap it well with aluminium foil and a tea towel and rest it for a good 15 minutes to 20 minutes and carve the chicken. It is extremely important to rest the chicken so that you get moist soft chicken.

Enjoy it with roasted baby potatoes or wilted greens or mashed potatoes and the lip smacking gravy of course.

Simple Roast Chicken

Simple Roast Chicken 

I love roasts of any kind. There are quite a few recipes of roast chicken out there but as usual the Simple Chicken Roast is hands down a winner with all the people I personally know. 

To be fair I used a kind of amalgamated recipe of Julia Child's and Jamie Oliver's. I especially agree with Oliver's school of thought about a gravy saving any dish and even if your dish is beautiful a gravy is actually the proverbial cherry of the cake. It does add so much flavour.

What I most like about this recipe is its simplicity. Before we move on let me clear one thing , one does need to use butter for the recipe and no substitute would do. Well I personally love Olive oil be it the fruity flavours or the relief of eating healthy but for this particular recipe you cannot but use butter because it gives it all that delicious flavour

Serves 5 to 6

1.8kilogram whole chicken with the skin
100gm butter
4 to 5 medium sized potatoes
200gm carrots
4 to 5 small onions not tiny though
Salt as per taste - I needed about 2 tbsp
Freshly ground pepper as per taste - I needed about 1 tbsp
1 head of garlic
1 stalk of celery
1 large lemon

For the filling

1/3rd cup bite sized carrots
1/3rd cup bite sized celery stalk
1/3rd cup bite sized onion

For the gravy

500ml to 700ml chicken stock
2 tbsp flour

Start by washing your chicken with lukewarm water . Wash it inside out and clean the cavity. Then wipe it with a kitchen towel.

Now massage the salt and pepper on the chicken but you must not forget to massage the cavity as well. use 1 tbsp butter to massage the chicken once you have rubbed the chicken with salt and pepper. Massage it well and leave aside for 1 hour.

Now dice the potatoes . Just halve them or make 4 pieces out of each potato. Roughly chop the carrots and onions and smash the cloves of garlic with the skin on .

Now finely chop the vegetables for the filling. Melt 20gm butter and saute the bite sized carrots, onions and celery till they are softened and then fill the cavity of the chicken with the sauteed vegetables. Take the lemon and prick it with a fork and microwave it at 900W for 20 seconds and place it in the cavity.

Now preheat oven to 220C and make a bed of the roughly chopped potatoes, onions and garlic and then add 50gm to 60 gm  of melted butter on top place your chicken on top ,tie its legs with a string and roast for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Remember that you must bast the chicken after you have roasted it for 20 minutes and every 15 minutes thereafter.

This is a particular trick I learnt from a French blog where you turn over the chicken after 1 hour of roasting  and roast it for 10 minutes and then turn over the chicken for the last 10 minutes of roasting. This process ensures that the back of the chicken gets well roasted and crispy.

Once roasted you must take out your chicken, wrap it in a kitchen towel and immediately go no to make a gravy. Just take out the pieces of potatoes and garlic then you will be left with the other vegetables and the delightful fat. Blend the vegetables with the fat and then bring this to a boil with the chicken stock and flour. Simmer for 5 minutes to 10 minutes and sieve and serve.

Do make a smooth paste of the flour with the chicken stock from before to prevent it from forming a lump.

Here are some Crucial tips for roasting

Ghee Roast Chicken Pilaf

Ghee Roast Chicken Pilaf 

There are times when the name of a recipe is tempting enough for you to try your hands on it even without reading through the recipe at all and the bonus is that you create a  dish. So the name was 'Ghee roast Murgh' which translates to Clarified butter roast Chicken. Now anyone who has used clarified butter would be familiar with its beautiful sweet aroma and the delightful taste it imparts .So this time I tried a simple marinate and what followed was this :-

Serves 1

1 Chicken leg + thigh without the skin
1.5 tsp ghee aka clarified butter
1/4th tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp paprika or if you don't have it then use Kashmiri Red chili powder
1 blade of mace crushed
Tiny pinch of Nutmeg
Salt as per taste

For the pilaf

1 cup of cooked basmati rice
A big handful of cranberries
A tiny pinch of nutmeg powder
1 tsp ghee/ clarified butter


Simply marinate the chicken with clarified butter, cinnamon, paprika or kashmiri red chili powder, salt, mace and nutmeg and let it marinate well for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180 C and place the chicken on a rack and put a bowl beneath the chicken on the lower rack so that it collects the juices and roast for 15 minutes and then turn the chicken and roast for another 15 minutes. Now place the rice in the bowl which has collected the juices and mix well and place the chicken on top and bake for another 5 minutes. Its a mild flavoured dish and somehow with the spices and flavour of ghee it works in the summers because of the light texture  and the cranberries give it a nice tangy flavour.

Tips to cook the rice :-

1. Take double the amount of water of rice and bring to a boil and cover and simmer for 15 minutes. If the crockpot is too small the bubbles might come out in that case leave a gap when placing the lid and once the water gets absorbed cover completely and cook. 
2. Once you have cooked the rice let ti stay with the lid on for 5 minutes and then serve it. 

Black Pepper Apple Cider Roast Chicken

Black Pepper Apple Cider Roast chicken 

An ordinary day means I usually reach out for the chicken leg for some grilling especially when I am lazy or tired because its easy, lets face it a bit of planning ahead , marination and voila you have a great meal. Now I buy the chicken from the market fresh and usually choose my cuts and I usually get some chicken leg and thigh together as one piece which makes for a great serving for one person. 

I was racking my brains for a new idea when my eyes rested on the jar of black peppercorn. In my kitchen black pepper is always freshly ground. So a bit of this a bit of that , 2 hours of marination 32 minutes of roasting later I was  tearing off soft succulent chicken pieces with two fingers. Yes, it was that soft that you can tear it away with two fingers alone. And for those who are worried that without the skin your chicken wouldn't be soft or tender just try it is what I would say. 

You see I had read about this a long time back. With any meat chicken included some acidic agent softens it greatly and you get soft succulent meat. So unless I am following a particularly traditional recipe which has no acidic agent I always add a little acidic agent, just enough to soften the chicken but not overpower the flavours. I usually also use skinless chicken since well its healthier and in our local market you have to wait for some time if you want the chicken with the skin. You see the chicken is freshly slaughtered and since most Indian recipes call for skinless chicken they usually keep a lot of skinless breasts and thighs which are quickly given to customers. 

So here goes the recipe for 1 serving 

1 Leg + Thigh of chicken. 

1.2 tsp black peppercorn 

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

1 clove of garlic
1 tsp fresh thyme

Salt as per taste 

Simply blend everything into a smooth paste , you will have crushed pepper which isn't superfine and it is alright. marinate for over 2 hours . preheat oven to 200 C and then roast for 32 minutes turning the chicken mid-way and basting it. Enjoy the succulent juicy delicious roast with a side salad and a glass of white wine or red wine or some drink of your choice. 

Poulet aux 40 Gousses d'Ail

Poulet aux 40 Gousses d'Ail 

(Roast Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic)

 One of the big challenges I face when arranging for a special meal is narrowing down the options for the menu and even if you do decide on the menu the ocean of recipes in this galaxy of the internet is sure to confuse you. So the four banditas were meeting again and I was arranging a dinner party and for me deciding on the menu within a day is quite challenging so after much thinking, clicking, typing I decided Roast Chicken it was going to be but then which one ?

Lets talk a bit about obsession. I believe that we all have certain obsessions which we happily indulge in. My first obsession is of course white crockery and white linen and the second is making everything from scratch in my kitchen (as much as possible) and trying to search for by-gone recipes of a particular region of the world. Sure many a  times you need to alter or chuck out a few ingredients due to geography , unavailability etc but the pleasure of hunting it down is something which I find extremely satisfying. With Google translator things are much more easy. A certain image of a roast chicken caught my attention and it turned out this was the roast chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Now I love my garlic and the simplicity of the roast attracted me instantaneously. Now that is the truth about French food. Everything feels its gourmet and difficult when in reality  it is simple elegant and delicious. Originally from the Lomagne region this one is a winner in my kitchen. Of course there were plenty of recipes differing a little bit from each other and I chose one which suited the ingredients available for me.

Now when you begin do remember that no matter what you use and what you don't the ingredients must , must , must be fresh.

Serves 6

1.7 kilogram Whole chicken (with the skin on of course)
40 large unpeeled cloves of garlic
2 stalks of rosemary
1 stalk of parsley
A handful of Thyme with the stalk
Salt and pepper
60 gm to 80 gm unsalted butter
1 medium sized lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock . Here is a recipe for Chicken stock

Now roasting a chicken is the easiest thing in the world but for moist crispy chicken here are a few tips which perhaps you might really find useful. Tips for roasting

So once you have cleaned , dried , seasoned and massaged  let it rest for 1 hour or 2 hours, then prick the lemon with a fork all over and place in the microwave for 40 seconds at high heat (this ensures the chicken gets the full flavour) and put it in the chicken's cavity with the rest of the herbs  tie the legs and then preheat your oven to 180C and grease your baking pan well Place the chicken on the tray and splash half the wine  and then scatter the cloves of garlic all around and pour the chicken stock roast for 1 hour 50 minutes if using the convection oven or 1 hour 30 minutes for regular ovens. Do not forget to bast (in this case you can use the wine in one of your basting) and for the rest of the basting use the liquid from the roasting pan  and cover it in the last 15 minutes. You know its well roasted when you pierce the legs and the juices run clear.

Let it rest wrapped in the kitchen towel once done for 10 minutes and in the meantime peel the garlic and make a smooth paste with a bit of liquid from the pan. This is a topping for bread. Use the liquid as a fantastic gravy. My guests kept licking their lips and fingers. When serving the chicken take out the herbs and lemon from inside the chicken.