Ingredients
1 Large Free-range Chicken
6-10 Lemons
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Potato
Pumpkin
Red, Green & Yellow capsicum
Carrots
Beetroot
Garlic
Onion
…or any other roasting vegetable of your choice
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180oC fan-forced
2. Butterfly the chicken using meat shears to cut down either side of the spine of the chicken. If you find this a little daunting you can ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken for you.
3. Cut enough lemons into slices to cover the bottom of your roasting pan. Your pan should be big enough to fit the butterflied chicken and all your vegetables. If you don’t have one that size, you can use two separate roasting pans. Lay the butterflied chicken, skin facing up, over the sliced lemons making sure to tuck in the wings so they don’t burn.
4. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the chicken, squeeze with lemon juice and season generously with lemon pepper. Cover with foil and place in oven to commence roasting.
5. While the chicken begins to roast, dice all vegetables in rough pieces and in a bowl mix thoroughly with oil, squeeze of lemon juice and lemon pepper. Mix well to cover each piece of vegetable evenly.
6. Once chicken has been roasting for 30minutes, remove from oven and surround chicken with vegetables. Re-cover with foil and put back in oven for another hour or until chicken legs are cooked through. If your chicken roasting pan isn’t big enough, you can roast your vegetables in a separate dish. Note: your chicken will be cooked when the legs of the chicken are cooked through. As a guide a whole chicken will cook at about 30minutes per 500grams.
7. During the last 15-30 minutes of cooking remove foil and continue cooking. This is when your roast with become beautifully golden.
8. Once chicken and vegetables are cooked remove from oven and re-cover with foil. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Carve and serve.
