Herb-Scented Roast Chicken

      Last Monday, I decided to cook roast chicken for dinner. I asked myself, what is the best recipe? Well, I’ve been trying different spices and herbs with chicken, but I haven’t found the best combination yet. Here, in Morocco, we usually use parsley, and sometimes coriander, in almost all our roasted meats recipes. I craved for a different taste that day.

--Rosemary?     

- Yes, I love that!    

--What about thyme?     

- One of my favorites too!   

--So let’s try that.                 

 (That was me talking to myself) 

     Rosemary goes with garlic, most of the time. Garlic is essential to chicken recipes, I believe. Thyme tastes better with lemon, true. So we have got our top 4. Now, imagine soya sauce added to this delicious combination. That would be outstanding. Some spices and fat and we are done.

     Actually, I like to keep it simple and easy so anybody may do it perfectly. This recipe turned out fantastic! Believe me, you have to try it too; it was crispy, fragrant, delicious, and one of the best roast chicken dishes I have ever tasted. Now I let the picture speak...

Ingredients

- 1 ½ Kg whole chicken

- 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary

- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme

- 1 Tbsp chopped garlic

- 2 Tbsp lemon juice

- 2 Tbsp soya sauce

- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

      

Process

1- Put the lemon inside chicken cavity. Mix all the remaining ingredients and rub the mixture into the chicken skin, you may try to tuck it under the chicken's skin too. Preferably, tie the chicken legs. 

2- Cover it with cling film and let it absorb the flavors in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours. (You can prepare it one day earlier and leave it in the refrigerator overnight)

 3- Preheat your oven to 250 °C and cook the chicken for 40 min to 1 hour (depends on how you like chicken) Then reduce the temperature 180 °C and roast the chicken for 30 to 45 min. Take it out and let it rest for 5min before serving. Serve it with your favorite sauce and enjoy your meal! 

Notes

- The biggest secret of delicious chicken is very clean chicken. A tip to clean it perfectly: sink it in salted water with some vinegar, ginger, and lemon slices for half an hour. 

- It is very important to use fresh herbs. If you use dry ones, you will have to reduce the measurements because dry herbs are much stronger than fresh ones. However, the result is never the same.