Chicken in milk

I forgot to take the picture till after I took one of the legs off.



1.5kg/3.5lb organic chicken
salt and pepper
115g/4oz butter
olive oil
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked
Zest of 2 lemons
10 cloves of garlic, skin left on
565ml/1 pint milk

preheat to 190/375
find a snug fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over and fry it in the butter and a little olive oil, turning the chicken to get an even color all over, till golden.
Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the oil and butter left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pot which will give you a lovely caramelly flavor later on.
Put the chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1.5 hours. Baste with the cooking juices when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce that is absolutely fantastic. Serve with the juice and curds from the pot, with some greens and mashed potatoes

This was another Jamie Oliver. I just got one of his older cookbooks, so there might be a few more of his coming your way too.

This one was exciting for me because for a long time there I roasted a lot of chickens. They are cheap, and healthy, they go with just about any vegetable, and they always have leftovers. I was always on the look out for a new way to roast a chicken, and this is a very new way for me. I like the idea of roasting it in milk because it keeps it so tender, and I love the way the lemon zest turns the juices into a curd-y sauce. It’s a fairly light gravy, and the zest makes it taste even lighter.

It’s way easy to do too, as easy as just roasting one. Neither of the boys left a single scrap of chicken last night, or today when we had leftovers. I will definitely make this again.