CAST IORN SKILLET ROAST CHICKEN WITH THE BEST EVER GARLIC CROUTONS

This simple old French Classic is such a outstandingly great dish, succulent lightly garlic infused roast chicken with a gorgeous white wine and herb infused stock gravy and the wow factor is the toasted sour dough slices that you squeeze out the whole roasted garlic cloves purée paste on the toasted bread then dip this giant creamy garlic crouton in to that gorgeous white wine roasted chicken stock, unbelievably off the chart !  The home smells divine and everyone’s eagerly awaiting dinner.  

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 2kg Chicken 1hr 20mins 

Resting time 20-30 minutes 

Ingredients 

2 kg plus high welfare chicken

2 glugs of olive oil

1 large onion quartered

1 carrot rough chopped

1 bulb garlic halved

10 garlic cloves in their skin

1 leek roughly chopped

3 sprigs of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 sprig tarragon (optional)

2 tbsp parsley stalks chopped

25g butter twice

10 whole peppercorns

1 lrg pinch Himalayan sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

200ml dry white wine

200ml water

1 sourdough loaf sliced

I find cooking this in a cast iron Dutch oven, skillet or chicken brick guarantees the most succulent juicy roast chicken every time.  Pre-heat your oven to 180 F / 356 F.  

Place the onion, garlic, carrot, leek, thyme, bay, peppercorns, tarragon, parsley stalks and butter in the pan, rub the chicken all over with the olive oil, salt and ground black pepper, place on top of the vegetables, pour in the wine and water, pop on the lid to your dutch oven (for 30 minutes ONLY) and place in the oven to roast for 50 minutes to 1hr 10 minutes (make sure to remove the lid after 30 minutes of roasting to brown off and crisp the skin) until pierced juices run clear from the thigh or if using a probe the thickest part of the breast reaches 74C / 165 F.  This is how I cook my juiciest succulent chickens then rest for 15 minutes relaxing the chicken which allows all the juices to evenly distribute back in to the meat, also the resting juices are infusing into the glorious stock gravy.  To make the gravy and croutons…

Garlic Croutons 

Slice your sour dough bread thin, drizzle with a hint of olive oil and bake in the oven for 10 minutes turning over half way through while the chicken is resting.

Remove the 10 individual garlic cloves and squeeze out the garlic purée on to the croutons.  These are just divine, gorgeous and decadent croutons dipped in the rich stock gravy.

The Roast Dinner White Wine Stock Garlic Gravy

Simply remove some of the tarragon, thyme and bay leaf, squeeze all the soft garlic out of their skins in to the stock, then blitz the cooking stock and vegetables until smooth, pass through a sieve and return the gravy to the pan on a medium heat to keep warm, stir in a knob of butter and season to taste.  Serve over your roast chicken.