Jamie Oliver’s chicken cooked with milk, sage & lemon, seemed to be calling out to me. Whether it was in the form of a random review, or best 10 lists, finally I decided to try it. The simplicity of Jamie Oliver’s recipes always appeal to me, as he has an amazing knack for taking the best and freshest and creating dishes that become part of our everyday cooking. The reviews for this chicken are pretty constant; many people commenting that it is the “best chicken ever”. That’s a pretty good compliment. Well, I tend to agree. I’ve made it a few times now, and each time I get exactly the same results. The chicken cooked beautifully right through to the bone, with subtle flavours, and a very “more” quality. We are given the comfort of a beautifully roasted chicken, with melt in your mouth tenderness.

Ingredients

3 – 3½# chicken ~ a nice plump, well raised bird

sea salt & freshly ground pepper

olive oil

stick of cinnamon

good-sized handful of sage leaves

zest of two lemons

10 cloves of garlic (Jamie Oliver shows to leave the skin on, I have been removing the skins as I like to serve the garlic cloves with the chicken.)

2½ c milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°

Lay some paper towel in the bottom of a clean & dry kitchen sink.

Put in the bird, and season it well all over with salt and pepper.

Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a lidded ovenproof pot that will snugly hold the bird.

Heat the pot over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, distributing the oil all over the base of the pot, and add in the seasoned chicken.

Brown the chicken on all sides for a few minutes, until it is a lovely golden brown all over. Let it rest against the side of the pot to brown the wing sides of the bird.

Take it off the heat. Remove the bird, and pour off any extra oil from the pot, but don’t scrape it clean. Reserve the oil for roasting potatoes (or other veg) or discard.

Return the chicken to the pot, and arrange all the other ingredients around it. Finally pouring the milk over the bird.

Put the lid on, and bake in the oven for 1 hour,  then remove the lid and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

Baste with the milk sauce after each 30 minutes of cooking.

To serve, remove the chicken from the bones (excepting the wings & legs which are served meat on the bone), and arrange on a platter to serve. Pour some of the milk sauce over top, or serve on the side.  

Thanks, Jamie, for another delicious recipe!

Note: using a kitchen sink for preparing chicken is super easy way of keeping your counter clean of raw chicken. Simply discard the paper towel when you’re done, and wash the sink.

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