Just Roast Chicken excerpted from Cook Once, Eat Twice: The ultimate guide to getting the most out of your time spent in the kitchen as featured in the BBC2 TV show by Nadiya Hussain. Photography by Chris Terry.
Pressed for time to cook in a busy week?
Cook Once, Eat Twice is all about delicious convenience, showing how to get ahead in the kitchen by cooking more efficiently and economically.
Nadiya shares a host of creative time savers, including trusty batch-cooking and meal-prepping ideas, clever ways to spin leftovers into new meals, simple baked treats that are easy to store and eat later, and even recipes to use up your scraps.
With recipes such as:
- Chick Pea and Chicken Tray Bake
- Sticky Honey Mustard Toad in the Hole Burgers
- Cheese and Lamb Samosas
- Courgette Spaghetti
- Cheats Biria Tacos
- Paneer Karahi
- Lemon Sherbet Loaf
Nadiya shows how easy it is to stretch your meals, reduce your waste and make life simpler, so you always have satisfying food at your fingertips.
Just Roast Chicken
I love a roast chicken—none of the frills, just a roast chicken. And not just for a roast dinner, but for the sake of having a chicken that you can do anything with. For me, it’s ripping bits of cold chicken out of the fridge that makes me happy. It’s great for sandwiches and to add protein to your lunch through the week. So, let me show you how to make a delicious, moist roast chicken—perfectly!
ALSO MAKES: CARCASS RISOTTO (PAGE 57)
BRINE: 4 HOURS
PREP: 5 MINS
COOK: 1 HOUR 20 MINS
REST: 15 MINS
SERVES: 4
12 ½ cups water
1 cup fine salt
3.5-lb whole chicken
Salt and ground black pepper
Start by getting a large pan or bowl and make a brine by pouring the water into the pan/bowl along with the salt and mixing till the salt has dissolved.
Add the chicken and submerge completely, using a plate to weigh it down if you need to. The size of your pan/bowl will affect how much water you need to completely cover the chicken, so always remember that salt to water should be about a 10% ratio. Ideally I would do this overnight. If you can do that and you are prone to pre-planning, then do that. If you can’t, 4 hours will suffice. This will give you ultimate moistness, which is what we want!
Preheat the oven to 335°F.
Remove the chicken from the water, drain and pat dry. Put in a roasting dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper all over—be generous. Lay the chicken breast-side up. Cover with foil and pop into the oven for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. This gives your chicken a beautiful golden colour and finishes off the cooking at the same time. Take out and leave to rest before serving.
There are many ways to know when a chicken is ready. Here are a few ways of being sure:
When a chicken is cooked, it changes colour to an opaque white.
Insert a skewer into the thickest part of the chicken—the breast near the bone—and if the liquid runs clear, it is cooked. If there is a pink tinge, then it needs more time.
But if you want to be absolutely sure, invest in a meat thermometer. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken, making sure not to touch the bone. If the temperature is 165°F, then the chicken is cooked.
Now to eat! There are so many ways to serve a roast chicken—be adventurous and show me on Insta! Whatever you do, make sure you don’t throw away the carcass. I have a great use for it on page 57.
TIP: Never wash your chicken. By washing you can, without realising, spread salmonella. And if you are handling chicken, make sure to be aware of where you may be spreading chicken juices/liquid.
Recipe published with permission from Sourcebooks.