By Frank Camorra
Roast chicken seems a simple dish but it's trickier than it looks. The timing has to be right so it's not under or overdone and the meat stays moist. This is why I assign the task to apprentices for our staff meal. They learn how to cook a beautiful chook and we get a delicious dinner.
The flavour depends on the bird you buy. I would suggest buying free range from a good butcher who can cut it in half for you, or do it yourself at home with a sharp knife. This recipe uses a very simple wet roasting technique, doubling as marinade. The sweetness of the carrots and yeasty flavours of the fino sherry permeate the flesh for an incredible result.
Wet-roasted chicken with carrots and sherry.Credit: Marcel Aucar
Making your own crisp eschallots takes a bit of practice – it's all about the timing of when to remove them from the hot oil. Once you master it, it's a cinch.
Wet-roasted chicken with carrots and sherry
Beans with crisp eschallots and mozzarella. Credit: Marcel Aucar
1 free-range 1.5kg chicken, cut in half
750ml fino sherry
150ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp thyme leaves, chopped
8 bay leaves, gently crushed
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 brown onions, roughly chopped
1 garlic bulb, cloves peeled and roughly crushed
4 pinches sea salt flakes
Marinate the chicken by putting it in a bowl with the sherry, olive oil, thyme, bay leaves, carrots and onions. Rub the crushed garlic into the chicken pieces and put the remains of the garlic in the marinade. Baste the chicken with the marinade several times, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, heat the oven to 180C. Remove the chicken from the marinade and set aside. Pour the marinade into a roasting tin and make a bed with the vegetables. Lay the chicken on top of the vegetables and season with salt. Roast for one hour. Remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes. Carve the meat and serve with the vegetables and a little of the cooking juices.
Serves 2 (pictured)
Beans with crisp eschallots and mozzarella
350g green beans
3 eschallots
200ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp grain mustard
1 tbsp honey
50ml sherry vinegar
100ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 buffalo mozzarella balls
Top and tail the beans, steam until they are just cooked and put aside. Slice the eschallots into very fine rings, less than 1mm thick – this is best done on a mandolin. In a small saucepan, heat the vegetable oil until it reaches 160C. You can test it with a cooking thermometer or by dropping in a small piece of eschallot – it should bubble and change colour. Don't add all the eschallots at once or the temperature of the the oil will drop. Add half of them gradually then stir gently to keep them moving. When they turn a light golden colour, remove saucepan from heat, lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. They will keep cooking, which is why you remove them from the oil when they are just coloured. Repeat with remaining eschallots. Mix the mustard, honey, vinegar and olive oil and season well. Dress the beans and place on a serving plate, tear the mozzarella into pieces and distribute on top, top with crisp eschallots and serve.
Serves 2
TIP
Keep the crisp eschallots in an air-tight container to use in other dishes, they will last for a few days.