Healthy, EASY, One-Pot Roast Chicken!

I have had a revelation!

This weekend, I cooked a one-pot roast, and it was delicious, and low-fat, and AWESOMELY EASY!!!

I sometimes think I am alone in this, but I find cooking a roast really quite stressful. Getting the timing of everything right is hard, and I find I spend all morning prepping and cooking, and basting and stressing. And then it’s gone in 10 minutes flat and I vow never to cook a roast again.

Well, no more!
At the start of the year, in with our Riverford veg box, there was a recipe for “The Healthy January Roast Chicken Alternative”, and I decided to give it a go.
It was yummilicious, stress free and we have bags of chicken left for at least another 2 meals-hurrah!

This is what you need:

• 3 carrots-scrubbed and cut into cunks
• 2 large or 3 med leeks, cleaned and cut into 4-5cm pieces
• 3 celery sticks, cut into 2-3cm pieces (we didn’t have any celery, but we did have 1/2 a swede, so I cut this into chunks and bunged it in)
• 4 large or 8 small unpeeled potatoes, scrubbed and quartered or halved, depending on size
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary (we didn’t have any, I don’t think it adversely affected the end result…)
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 whole chicken-I squeezed a lemon over the top of the chicken and then put the squeezed halves inside the chicken with a couple of smashed garlic cloves
• 1 litre hot chicken or veg stock

This is what you do:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C
• Put the chicken in a large casserole or roasting tin, and scatter the veg and herbs around the sides (you want it all to fit quite snugly)
• Pour over the stock, and season the chicken
• Cook in the oven for the required time (25 mins per 500g, plus 25 mins. Check the juices run clear and all that jazz), basking with stock every 20mins
• When cooked, take out of the oven. Remove the chicken to a plate and cover to allow to ‘rest’
• Put the veg in a bowl and back in the (now turned-off) oven to keep warm
• Pour the stock and juices into a saucepan and boil to reduce by about a third
• Carve the chicken, and serve with the veg and the stock/sauce in place of gravy

Kick back and enjoy the fruits of your (not very hard) labour 🙂

Inevitably I forgot to take a picture of dinner in all it’s glory, but I think the boys enjoyed it!