a roast chicken is a lovely thing. Either with roasties, or ciabatta – always feels like a treat.
Prep: 2min Cook: 90min (depends on bird)
Ingredients
1 Chicken or 2 Partridge
50ml sherry
olive oil, salt, water
Method
- preheat oven to 200c (fan)
- pour the sherry into the body cavity(s), add about 100ml of water to the base of the pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Cook and baste. For partridge cook for 30 min, baste every 10 and turn the oven down to 175c after 15min. For Chicken, baste every 20min, cook for 45min/kg + 20min and turn the oven down to 175c after 20min.
I put water into the pan to keep a moist atmosphere while the bird cooks. The high initial temperature and the use of olive oil and salt means the bird will still brown, but will also be succulent. I use sherry to flavour the bird, and because unlike using herbs or spices it doesn’t overly distort the flavour from the stock I make from the bones.
If you like you can use a bit of thyme, then the stock is excellent for paella. Or Cumin, then the stock is ideal for couscous or curry. you can also drape a partridge with a couple of slices of streaky bacon and leave the oven at 200c, but you still need to baste to get the best from it.
To serve I simply joint the bird, parsons nose, legs, wings, breasts. Then pull the remaining meat off. Leftovers are for breakfast or the following days tea.
I will very occasionally roast a partridge, but normally stick to chicken. I think you can do much better with partridge in other dishes, and plucking is a pain! I don’t roast pheasant for two reasons, firstly you have to pre-pull the leg tendons with pliers, and as I said – plucking is a pain,