Festive Roast Chicken

Description

This delicious roast chicken perfectly pairs flavourful roasted vegetables and refreshing yogurt sauce making it the perfect festive dish this Christmas season.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, medium or large
• ¼ cup of olive oil
• 1 rounded teaspoon of rosemary, fresh, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, dried
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• sea salt
• black pepper, cracked

Vegetables

• 2 red capsicums, large, each deseeded and cut into 6 large pieces
• 1 purple kumara, large, cut into cubes
• 3 potatoes, medium, washed and cut into cubes
• 1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 1 stem of rosemary, fresh
• 3 zucchini, medium, halved lengthways and cut into thirds
• ¾ cup of Kalamata olives, pitted
• 150 grams of feta, cut into cubes
• olive oil, for drizzling

Yoghurt sauce

• ½ telegraph cucumber
• 1 cup of Greek yoghurt, full fat
• ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon, ground
• 1 handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped
• sea salt
• black pepper, cracked

Equipment

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Grate the cucumber on a box grater and squeeze tightly to remove as much liquid as possible. Combine in a bowl along with the other ingredients for yogurt sauce. Season generously with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
• Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Mix the olive oil, herbs and garlic. Rub all over the chicken and place a tablespoon or two inside the chicken too. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Tie with legs together.
• Place on a large oven-proof tray.
• Toss the capsicum, kumara, potatoes and red onion with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter the leaves of the rosemary stem and place vegetables around the chicken. Bake for 45 minutes.
• Toss the zucchini and olives with some olive oil and add to the vegetables on the tray. Cook for a further 45 minutes.
• Scatter the feta cheese on top of the vegetables in the last 15 minutes of cooking.
• Check the chicken is ready by piercing the inner thigh of the chicken and ensuring the juices run clear.
• Tip the chicken slightly so that the internal juices run onto the tray. Place the chicken on a plate to rest. Cover loosely with tinfoil.
• Spread the vegetables evenly across the tray. Change the oven setting to grill (high). Place the tray near the top of the oven and grill the vegetables for 3-5 minutes. This step is optional, but a last blast of high heat is a great way to brown and caramelize vegetables that were tucked under the chicken.

Notes

Gluten Free. Contains meat, dairy.

Recipe credit: Bird and Barrow/Brinks