Roast Chicken with Garlic

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, innards and neck removed
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp garlic powder optional
1 lemon, sliced

Butter paste:

30g butter cubed
1 Tbs chopped parsley
Zest of 1 lemon

Stuffing:

2-3 sprigs thyme, submerged in hot water for 30 seconds
2-3 sprigs rosemary, submerged in hot water for 30 seconds
15 garlic cloves slightly bruised
2 bay leaves
1 lemon halved

Method

Place chicken on a flat chopping board, breast side up. For aesthetics, tuck the wings under the chicken and tie the thighs together using kitchen twine.

Carefully pull the top chicken skin and slowly stuff combined butter paste under the chicken skin. Be careful not to tear the chicken skin while doing so.

Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the combined stuffing. If you have leftover herbs, sprinkle them around the pan or on the chicken.

Brush the chicken skin all over with olive oil using a pastry brush. Season chicken with salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Place sliced lemon around chicken.

Rest the chicken, breast side up, on a wire rack sitting on a bigger roasting tray to collect the chicken juices. Bake chicken in preheated oven at 200 C for about 40 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven and brush the chicken with the juices that are collected in the drip pan. If there are not enough juices, use olive oil.

Return tray to oven and bake for another 30 minutes, increasing the oven heat to 220 C during the last 10 minutes. The roasting time may differ with your oven, but you should roast until the chicken is nicely golden brown.