Nashauna's roast chicken with sweet potato
Published: Thursday | December 24, 2009
Nashauna Drummond's oven-roasted chicken stuffed with sweet potatoes and cilantro.
I love roasting chicken. I think I'm pretty good at it and it's very easy. Just pop it in the oven and check in from time to time. The amount of fat that melts away during the process is astounding, so the fact that it is one of the healthiest ways of preparing chicken, also makes it very appealing to me.
Like most meals that you prepare on a regular basis, you develop your own recipe, after constantly tweaking it. So I wasn't nervous to prepare what turned out to be the main protein for our Christmas dinner. I love my roast chicken and my family loves it, but I was just a bit nervous about cooking it for my colleagues. i hoped it would go over well with their discerning palates, that was my only minor concern.
Here's how I did the roast chicken stuffed with sweet potato.
NB: The ingredients are all based on my personal judgement; no real measurement is made.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken. Make sure it is completely thawed or the meat will come out tough and rubbery.
A few sprigs cilantro
A few sprigs thyme
About three medium stalks of scallion
1 large scotch bonnet
6 large cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
1 large onion
Black pepper and salt to taste
sweet potato
Method
(1) In a blender, chop scallion, pepper, onion and thyme. Blending the seasoning enhances the flavours.
(2) Remove cavity and clean the chicken, then rub with salt, black pepper and blended seasoning, pouring some in the cavity and putting a few crushed gloves of garlic under the wings (again this is optional unless you are a garlic lover).
(4) Parboil sweet potato; drain and mix with a little butter and about two stalks of cilantro and thyme. Stuff it into the cavity of the chicken and tie chicken legs together.
(5) Pre-heat oven to 14oC and place chicken in a Pyrex dish or roasting pan with breast up.
(6) Let it roast for about an hour, letting all the juices drain out. Occasionally base with its own juices. If you like, this can be poured off after the first hour and used to make gravy.
(7) After an hour, turn oven up to 17oC and continue basting until chicken is golden brown, which takes about another hour.
