Best Ever Roast Chicken

Oh yes! This is the best ever roast chicken. Not only did I start with a plump, beautiful organic bird from Rusty Gate Farm in the Comox Valley, I used a foolproof Jamie Oliver recipe to roast this mouthwatering fowl. Along with being easy and delicious, I got to use some of the hardy herbs that are battling their way through November and hanging sturdily on in my garden. In this case, thyme and rosemary (I have to admit, rosemary is my favourite garden herb - don't tell the parsely!)

(Uncooked chickens always look so naked & chilly.
I want to cover their little thighs with my oven mitts!)

The recipe was so simple and the result so tasty. Juicy. Rich. Chicken-y. Jamie Oliver offers brilliant cookery advice - his recipes really are my one weakness. Is it his mischevious boyish twinkle? The great hair that curls this way and that? His "Aw-shucks, luv, anybody can do this" handsome way about the kitchen and garden? Well, of course!

And his recipes are just plain good. I think he is a maestro of roll-up-your-sleeves cooking with an unerring instinct for flavour-matching. I've never had a recipe of his fail. His cookbooks are pleasure to read, filled with great tips and wonderful pictures. And he is on a mission to promote fresh real food. Plus he is boyishly good-looking.

I served the chicken for Sunday dinner and there were plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. (Such joy!) The organic roasters are really savoury and generous. Speaking of generosity, my aunt purchased a quantity of birds and most generously passed one on to us. Needless to say, the next time I am in Courtenay BC, I will be finding my way to Rusty Gate to fill up my cooler and return the favour! Definitely worth a 4-hr trip for these bosomy beauties (I am, of course, speaking of the chickens).

In keeping with my rich fantasy life, I am already planning out my imaginary chicken coop. Eating Rusty Gate poultry has given me an aspirational goal for hen-keeping - even the pretend version.

I served our roast chicken with a side of oven-roasted rutabaga, brussels sprouts and pecans and a cranberry-almond couscous.  Lipsmackingly good. Like Jamie. (Did I menion how cute he is?)

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/perfect-roast-chicken