Summer's Sunday Roast
Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 01:13PM LEMON AND MARJORAM CHICKEN ON ROASTED GARLIC NEW POTATOES
Food fashions may come and go but some things are too much part of our culinary landscape to ever be off the menu. For the English, the Sunday Roast is almost a religion. I don’t believe I have ever met anyone who doesn’t enjoy a quality Sunday Roast – most of the time your mum’s version being the best you have ever tasted.
During the winter months a roast comes in to its own: it’s hearty, robust nature is perfect for keeping you warm while the effect of its proportions can be kept hidden under your weather induced knitwear! But in the summertime the roast can be a little too much to bear. Juggling pans and a hot oven in a hot kitchen, followed by a hot meal on a hot day is not my idea of fun and on days such as these everything needs to be a little lighter and easier.
This dish is a rather lovely summer’s day lunch or supper. The individual, herb stuffed breasts mean no carving and the garlic new potatoes are like perfectly formed roast potatoes, designed by nature entirely for your pleasure. I love the combination of lemon, marjoram and garlic; its heady fragrant scent reeking of summer’s days and blooming gardens. This is a total breeze to make, takes little prep and can be abandoned to the oven without worry while you go and enjoy a glass of something cool and refreshing. Serve with a large green herb salad and lovely friends and family for maximum pleasure.
SUMMER’S SUNDAY ROAST
Serves 4
4 chicken breasts, skin on
The finely chopped peel of ½ a lemon
1 garlic bulb, crushed
A large bunch of fresh marjoram, finely chopped
The zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp English mustard – made from 2 heaped tsp mustard powder mixed with 1 tbsp water
1½ lb new potatoes
1 garlic bulb
3 tbsp olive oil
Preheat the oven to 220c (200c Fan). Mix together the chopped lemon peel, crushed garlic clove, marjoram and English mustard until you have a coarse paste. Using a tea spoon or butter knife, carefully loosen the skin on the chicken breasts so that you can get your fingers underneath but not so that it comes away from the breast. Stuff the chicken with the herb paste and tuck the skin over the top, then carefully cut three diagonal slashes, about 1cm deep in to each breast. Place the chicken in a shallow dish and pour over the lemon juice and zest, season well, cover and set aside.
Take the bulb of garlic and slice the top off, about 1cm from the tip and so that you can see the heads of most of the cloves. Place in a roasting pan with the new potatoes and pour over the oil. Season well and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and give them a shake. Next, carefully rest the chicken breasts more or less on top of the potatoes (using them as a makeshift trivet). Turn the oven down to 200c (180c Fan) and cook for a further 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp. Remove from the oven and take out the chicken breasts, leaving them to rest for a few minutes while you carefully squeeze out the cloves from the roasted garlic bulb. Mix them into the roasted new potatoes and then serve both chicken and potatoes while warm.
Chicken, Garlic, Herbs, Lemons, Mustard Flour, Potatoes in Lunches, Suppers, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, wheat-free, yeast-free
Reader Comments (10)
Looks so good! What a fantastic Summer roast! you've inspired me!
Thank you Miranda, I am so glad you like it, Sunday's aren't quite the same without a roast!
Loved the zingy-ness of the lemon and the marjoram - and I could literally eat those little garlicy roast potatoes continuously for the rest of my life. Absolutely amazing as always! x
That does look really rather good. Thanks for sharing.
Patrick, thankyou! I too am rather attached to the little roast potatoes - so perfectly formed.
Julian, thank you for commenting; I am so glad you like the look of it.
chicken and lemon are so delicious together, felt very summery, just need to sort out the weather..can you do that too please!
so many fabulous ideas, going to do this for supper this week, inspiring me on a dull summers day, thankyou
Glad you like it Anne, sorry about the weather! Still, it means it's not too hot for baking, have you seen my banana bread?!
Julia, you very welcome, so happy you like it.
I like to loosely stuff a chicken with lemon, garlic and large green olives. Sometimes I use sprigs of rosemary too...yummm
Ooh Intolerant Chef, I love garlic, lemon and olives, bet it's good for lamb as well.