Marcella Hazan’s roast chicken with lemon recipe

This could not be simpler and works every time.

Timings

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Serves

6-8

Ingredients

• 2kg good-quality, oven-ready chicken

• 2 small unwaxed lemons

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/170C fan/gas mark 4.

2. Remove excess fat from around the opening to the cavity of the chicken. Season well inside. Dry the skin with paper towels to prevent it sticking to the roasting tin.

3. Roll the lemons under your palm on the work surface to soften them (I then bash them with a rolling pin, but not so hard that they burst). Prick each one all over with a skewer. Put these inside the bird and close the cavity using cocktail sticks.

4. Tie the legs together, but not tightly. This stops them widening and splitting the skin as the chicken cooks. Season all over the outside of the bird.

5. Put the bird into a roasting tin or ovenproof dish, breast-side down, where it can lie without too much room round it (otherwise the juices just evaporate and burn). Roast for 30 minutes, then turn the bird over, breast uppermost.

6. Roast for another 15 minutes, then turn the heat up to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6 and roast for a further 15 minutes. The skin should be puffed and golden and the lemons should have made lovely juices.

7. Pierce the bird between the leg and body – the juices should run clear, with no traces of pink. Serve whole, carving at the table, and spooning the lemony cooking juices over each helping.