(mellow music) - Hey, I'm Ben. One of the chefs at Sorted Food. And today I'm gonna show you
two ways to roast a chicken. Both of which are simple, one tray bakes, that you're gonna wanna do in midweek. (upbeat music) We would always say, buy the best chicken that you can afford. But regardless of where
in the scale that is, if you buy a whole chicken, it is going to be more
affordable than the sum of all the parts bought
individually at the same quality. So, buy a whole bird, and
then you get the added benefit of the carcass, and the wings, and all the extra flavour
that comes along with it. And that's what makes
this tray bake so special. My first recipe is a
roasted fennel, lemon, and potato chicken bake, all in one tray. It's so simple. We're gonna start with the veg. Per portion, you want a
handful of new potatoes. Halve them, and throw them
into a deep roasting tray. Then chop up a bulb of fennel,
a leek, and a whole lemon, peel and seeds, the whole
lot, and toss it all together in that tray with oil, salt, and pepper. So we've roasted chicken
before on a trivet, which is basic mirepoix,
of celery, carrot, onions, and then when it all cooks
down, you use that for gravy. It's delicious. All I've done this time,
is up that veg to stuff that we actually want to
eat as the veg midweek, but it was still catch all of those chicken juices as it roasts. So it is phenomenal. But this needs a headstart, in
an oven, 200 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes,
while we prep the chicken. (upbeat music) And now for a few tips to make sure that this roast chicken is perfect. Now you'll notice a chicken like this, plenty for four people. Our tray bake, we put in
two handfuls of potatoes, there's enough veg for two. And that's because we're gonna
roast the whole bird off, eat half of it with the tray bake. And we've got half a roasted chicken to put for a salad or pasta dish, or stir through a quick
curry later on in the week. That's kinda just smart and getting ahead. But for the chicken, make
sure it's at room temperature. You'll get a better cooked bird
if it's at room temperature. Then making sure there's
no giblets inside, and if there are take them out. If they're aren't put,
in a lemon quartered. What that will do is as it
roast, is steam the chicken from the inside with
lovely citrus fragrance. You're gonna make sure that it's untied, 'cause if it's tied up,
it's all really close. By untying it, you let the heat
get in to the deepest parts, which is the dark meat around the leg. And finally, you're going to butter and season all over the top. This does a couple of things, allows the seasoning to stick. The butter along with the chicken fat will also drip into our tray, and it's also adding an extra flavour. Oil would also work, olive
oil, rapeseed oil, you chose. Obviously wash your hands
after touching the chicken. What you don't wanna do is put raw chicken all over everything else
you're touching in the kitchen and then generous seasonally, season generously. And if you get this bit right, the skin that comes out is so good, 'cause we're roasting
at the high temperature. It's buttered, it's seasoned,
it'll go lovely golden brown. I think these little tips really help. My biggest criticism of when
other people roast chicken is they often overcook it and dry it out. And it's things like bringing
up to room temperature opening it out, letting it
steam from the inside as well, that really just help to
cook it evenly, succulently, whilst also saving all of the juices that drip down into tray bake. With the vege having had
a 20 minute head start, the chicken can sit on top
and it goes back into the oven for about 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken. (mellow music) So our chicken has had
loads of resting time, and that's important 'cause
it lets all the juices settle. Wow! And this is why the benefit
of the whole chicken. All of those roasting juices have dropped into this amazing tray. Then stir in some creme
fraiche, or sour cream, or double cream, or
yoghurt, whatever you've got and loads of fresh herbs. We're using basil and rosemary. Personally, if it's a freshly roasted bird I like to eat the breasts straight away while it's warm and succulent. But also what it's warm
pick all the dark meat, the leg meat, the wings, the oysters from underneath the chicken. Puts it into a bowl, cover
it, put it in the fridge, and you can use that another night. It warms wonderfully through
pasta, you can toss it through salads or even
turn it into a curry. A tad messy, but absolutely worth it, 'cause what you're left
with is two chicken breasts. We've done skin on and skin off to serve with your tray baked veg. A mountain of dark meat,
pop that in the fridge for another night, and carcass and bones which you can cook into a delicious broth as the base to so many other
dishes, all from one chicken. So often roast chicken is
overlooked as a midweek option but it's pretty hands-off
once it's a tray bake or a spatchcock, it goes in
the oven, it does its thing. It's delicious. It's effortless and worth it. (mellow music) Our second midweek roast chicken dish is going to be spatchcock
peri peri chicken with spicy wedges. Just like before we want to make the most of having a whole chicken. So we want to catch the chicken juices from the carcass and the meat
on the bone as it roasts. So we're gonna do it as a tray bake. I'm gonna start from
the bottom of the tray. Spuds, two portions. One big spud per portion,
cut them into wedges and lay them on the bottom of
a tray with some baking paper. Potatoes aren't all the same shape or size but you'll notice I've cut them, so that now they're all
gonna cook roughly equally. Just season the wedges with
salt 'cause all of the rest of the flavour and fat is
gonna drop down onto them. Then we're gonna place a
wire rack, that's ovenproof, over the top of the roasting
tray and our chicken is gonna sit on top of
there, so that all of the air from the oven can circulate
and roast it quickly and evenly and keep it succulent, but the juices can drip
onto our potato wedges. Now you absolutely can do exactly the same to the chicken that you did before. However, if you cut it spatchcock style it cooks a little bit quicker, and you've got more surface
area for the chilli sauce we're gonna put over the top. To do that you're just gonna cut out the backbone of the chicken. So there's your chicken, two
breasts, two legs, two wings flip it over, that's the backbone. You just wanna cut with a
very strong pair of scissors by the side of it. (upbeat music) So that is literally the
backbone, or the spine of the chicken, it's great
for stocks and things. Today we're not gonna
use it, but the chicken you have left you can then open out flat and push down on the breastbone
to make sure it's flat. Lift it onto your wire rack. At this point you could
just season the chicken, salt, and pepper, however,
we're gonna slather it in a homemade chilli
peri peri style sauce. So that's garlic cloves,
red chilli, olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh
oregano, and a little bit of smoky chilli sauce we haven't had in the cover, 'cause we made it before. But basically make a
chilli sauce that you love, as hot as you like, as herbie as you like, as garlic-y as you like,
as lemon-y as you like, but it should have some
of that red wine vinegar or lemon juice so that
you've got the acid as well. Or there is absolutely no harm
in just buying a chilli sauce that you can rub over. Same temperature oven as the first recipe, 200 degrees and it's
gonna need 45 minutes. While it's in there,
you can wash your hands, your board, your scissors, and everything that's touched a raw chicken. After 45 minutes of roasting,
get it out of the oven. You can see the skin is gorgeous. Serve the spatchcock next to a mount of those
peri peri soaked wedges. (upbeat music) I think a lot of people
overlook roast chicken as a midweek option, but
you saw how easy it was. Two completely different ways of doing it, and it's pretty hands off. A little bit of work upfront
and then stick it in the oven. Let the oven do the hard work and you end up with this deliciousness. So if you want to put your
new roast chicken technique into practise, then right now
over on our meal packs app you can get more of the same
ideas throughout the week, that will stretch your budget and feed your bellies with tasty tasty food, plus it's free for a month. - [Mike] Excellent. (Mike, get involved in this) - [Ben] I'm not sure that
potato, leek, and funnel has ever tasted so good. Free chicken deliciousness. - [Mike] Looks outstanding. (mellow music) And it tastes outstanding. Wow! You cannot beat a chicken
when it's roasted like that. You just can't.
Ben is really in his element in these videos... man has the je ne sais quos
I've learned a method from my mother..
coat fresh chicken with melted butter, salt pepper and nutmeg. Leave over night.
Roast the next day with more melted butter
Heaven. Nutmeg and chicken are a match made in heaven