Perfect Roast Chicken with Red Onion Gravy
Serves 4
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 1 hour, 20 minutes
Total time 1 hour, 40 minutes
Source Ministry of Food by Jamie Oliver
Now here’s one of my all time favourite recipes – a proper Chicken Roast – an absolute Classic!
Why not make it once a week and use your left overs in a lovely curry or heart-warming soup ?
Ingredients
- 1 Medium organic chicken
- 1-2 Medium red onions
- 1 Small red bell pepper
- 2 Medium carrot
- ground arrow root (for thickening the gravy)
- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt & freshly ground black pepper & turmeric & cayenne pepper
- 1-2 stick celery
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Preheat your oven to 240 degrees c/ 475 f/ gas 9 | |
| Step 2 | |
Wash the veg and chop them into big chunks Peel the garlic and put it on a deep oiled roasting tray together with the veg. | |
| Step 3 | |
Drizzle the veg with olive oil. Then drizzle the oil over the chicken, too; rubbing salt & pepper (and tumeric & cayenne if using) onto its skin. You can also add fresh herbs like rosemary at this stage. | |
| Step 4 | |
Sit the chicken on top of the veg onto the roasting tray and put it in the oven. Turn the heat down to 200c/ 400f/ gas 6 and cook the chicken for 1hr and 20 minutes. | |
| Step 5 | |
Set a timer for 40 mins and check on the veg. If they look dry add water to the tray. Baste the chicken with olive oil and salt and pepper and let it cook for another 40 mins. | |
| Step 6 | |
| When cooked, take the chicken out and let it rest on the side wrapped in tin foil whilst you make the gravy. | |
| Step 7 | |
Instructions for making awesome gravy: Heat 1 l of water and when boiling add 2 yeast free chicken stock cubes (or home made stock if you have) and whisk this up. Put the tray over a high heat on the hob, add some ground arrow root and stir to thicken the gravy up a bit. (If there is a lot of fat swimming on top of the veg tray you can remove some of it with a spoon before heating it up) | |
| Step 8 | |
Then use a potato masher or fork to mash the vegetables into a pulp. I personally like to have some onion rings and veg bits still in there for a rustic taste and look. But you can blend this more or put it through a sieve if you prefer a smooth consistency. All in all you’ll end up with a lovely tender chicken with a flavoursome gravy – perfect for a Saturday or Sunday! | |
Note
This makes a lot of gravy. For 1-2 people I’d recommend to use 0.5 l of water and only one stock cube/ broth (unless of course you want to eat the gravy the next day).
Serve this dish with steamed broccoli or other greens of your choice. From phase 3 of the candida diet onwards you can also have potatoes with this meal.
In phase 2 I’d recommend you leave the potatoes out and use the gravy sparingly, as it contains some natural sugars from the carrots and red pepper.
Nothing to worry about, it’s just that finishing the whole litre jar of gravy would not be such a wise choice. Particularly as the gravy is also very oily and salty.
I tried eating chicken without gravy in phase 2 of the diet and I can tell you it is a sad experience.
I think the health boost you are getting from enjoying a nicely cooked chicken with a bit of gravy by far outweighs any minuscule impact the tiny amount of vegetable sugar might be having on your body.
I’ve never had any problems from eating it, and I had generous amounts of gravy ?
Roast Chicken makes a superb candida diet recipe that is suitable for phase 2 & 3 of the candida diet.
