In my kitchen: Spicy Roast Chicken

So yesterday I cooked half a roast chicken on my own. Now it might not sound like much, but I'm usually afraid of any piece of chicken bigger than a thigh, as I don’t really know how to handle it, yet alone attempt to cook it.

But I thought this weekend, I would give it a go. Saturdays are my experimental days and I figured that sometime in the near future Christmas dinner will fall to me and it would be good to get in some practice! I did a quick search on Google to get some ideas on techniques and basic steps and off I went.

I washed, I spiced and I roasted and Voila! An hour and a half later, Mr E and I were tucking into spicy roast chicken, with roast potatoes and vegetables – yummy!

I forgot to take a picture, which I’m slighted gutted about, as it did look rather nice {the picture above is from Google}, so instead I thought I’d share some helpful tips I learnt along the way.

Cooking tips:

• Temperature should be around 190 degrees, gas mark 5 to allow it to cook evenly. Last thing you want is burnt skin and raw insides!
• If you like tasty chicken, create your own marinade and let it sit in it for a while. If you have time, overnight in the fridge is good but I did it for 20 mins and it was fine. My marinade is a mixture of ketchup {yes!}, jerk seasoning, chicken seasoning, paprika, chilli powder, Knorr cubes, Garam masala and thyme. I then sprinkle Cajun seasoning just before I pop it in the oven. If you like your chicken mild, simple salt and pepper should suffice.
• During cooking you should ‘baste’ the chicken at least 3 times., every 20/25 mins or so. Now I didn’t have a clue what this meant, but after a quick Google search I discovered all it means is to take the chicken out of the oven and pour the chicken juice created through the roasting, over it and put back in the oven. Not sure what this is supposed to do, but I think it might help the chicken stay nice and moist.
• In the last 10 mins turn the heat up really high so that outside gets extra crispy.
• If you want nice crispy potatoes, boil the potatoes for 10-15 mins, then place in roasting dish, cover with some of the chicken juice and let it roast for around 30-40 mins

Overall the meal was delicious and I will definitely be attempting it again with a full chicken!