Slow roasted chicken with vegetables

The festive season is incomplete without my favorite dinner - Slow roasted chicken with vegetables.
It's been two years since we moved to Dubai and I have lost count of the number of times of I have made roast chicken. This was one thing that Shibin wanted to have ever since the decision to move to Dubai was made since his Mom made it for him when they were in Al-Ain!

My first attempt at baking a chicken was a total disaster. I marinated the chicken a day in advance and I froze it! I did not thaw it before moving it into the oven. It sat in the oven for 2 hours and never cooked. We had to chop the half cooked chicken and fry it on a pan. Also, I had to throw off the vegetables since it tasted disgusting with the marinade I made. I am talking of our Christmas dinner two years back and we had our dinner finally at 12 am!!

Ever since that episode, I have strived hard to perfect this - Tried different marinades and I stick to my favorite - seasoning of pepper, salt and lime juice. This recipe would suit the beginners who want to give a shot at roasting whole chicken in the oven just like I began my roasting adventures!

Over to the recipe -

Ingredients

Whole Chicken - 1 kg cleaned
Potato - 2 large chopped in chunks
Carrot - 2 chopped in chunks
Red Onion - 2 chopped in chunks
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Pepper powder - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp coarsely ground
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Garlic crushed - 5 to 6 cloves
Salt to taste
Mint leaves (optional)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree centigrade.
Clean the whole chicken well inside and out. Remove the giblets and keep the skin of the chicken on. Set it aside to drain off excess water and creates gashes on the chicken with your knife.
Sprinkle 1 tsp of pepper and salt on the chopped vegetables and give it a good mix. Layer the bottom of baking tray with the vegetables and drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Rub the chicken with olive oil and season with pepper powder, salt and lemon juice. Stuff the chicken cavities with crushed garlic and mint leaves.
Place this on the baking tray layered with the veggies.
Move it into the oven and retain the 220 degree centigrade for the first 20 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for 90 minutes, increasing the temperature again for the last 5 minutes to 220 degrees.
The juice from the chicken seeps onto the layered vegetables which gives it a distinct flavor.
Remove from the oven and let it rest covered for 15 minutes.

You may also note

Baste the chicken and vegetables with a brush every 20 minutes while baking to ensure that the moisture stays and does not dry out.
The baking time varies depending on the oven size and the chicken size. Mine is a larger sized oven and hence takes considerably more time.
You may marinate the chicken and refrigerate overnight.
Ensure that the chicken is completely defrosted before you begin cooking else may take a considerably longer time to cook.
I prefer slow roasting the chicken because it gets juicy and the meat just falls apart. That is my idea of a baked chicken:)
You could tie together the legs of the chicken and another twine holding the wings together. It hold together the shape of the chicken and is believed to make it juicier.

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