Lemon & thyme with Lurpak Danish Butter-Basted Roast Chicken

Despite roast chicken is one of my favourite food ever,  I resort to the store-bought version far too often than I’d like to admit. I have been relying heavily on the roast chickens from the Mills Gourmet Takeaway (in Orange) and only considered roasting my own chicken in the past holiday season.

I forgot how easy it was to make a roast chicken at home. I forgot how succulent and tender homemade roast chicken can be. Indulgence is a must when it comes to holiday season and the first thing which came to mind was the butter-basted roast chicken which Adam has made for us on Christmas eve 2 years ago. Feeling like going “all-out”, nothing feels more luxurious than basting the chicken with premium quality butter like Lurpak Danish butter.

Its creamy and distinctive buttery taste, which reminds me of the house-made butter that I had in a fine dining restaurant, makes an ideal base for a herbed butter to be smeared on a freshly toasted sourdough.

That’d be too predictable though.

So I feel it is equally delectable to showcase my amp up lemon & thyme roast chicken, basted in good quality butter. Enjoy!

Lemon & Thyme with Lurpak Danish Butter-Basted Roast Chicken

(tweaked slightly from BBCGoodFood)

What you’ll need:-

• 50g Lurpak butter , softened
• bunch fresh thyme, (about 5g/0.2 ounces) plus extra to serve
• 4 garlic cloves (1 peeled & grated, the other 3 peeled,left whole but squashed)
• 2 small lemons , halved
• Salt to taste
• 1 chicken , about 1.5kg (mine was about 1.2 kg)
• Kitchen string
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 cups salt reduced chicken stock
• splash soy sauce (to taste)
• freshly ground black pepper

Original recipe calls for 2 carrots and 1 onion, both roughly chopped. Then scatter these on a roasting tin with 2 bay leaves as a base to rest the chicken on. When I made the roast chicken, I omitted the carrot, onion and bay leaves completely.

Method:-

Preheat oven to 200C (392F)/180C fan (356F). In a small bowl, mash and mix the softened butter with one-third of the thyme leaves, the grated garlic, salt and the juice of half a lemon. Set aside. Use your hand to loosen the chicken skin away from the breast and push most of the butter mixture into the gap. Rub the rest of the butter all over the exterior of the chicken. Stuff the cavity the lemon halves, remaining thyme leaves  (remember to leave some for garnish later) and garlic. Tie the legs together with kitchen string, mostly closing the cavity’s opening. Sit the chicken breat-side up on a roasting tin (note: I used a disposal aluminium roasting tin) and roast on the middle shelf for 1 hr 30 minutes, basting with the buttery juices after about 40 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven when the chicken is dark golden, crispy-skiined and the jucies run clear. Allow it to rest in the tine for 5 to 10 minutes. Use a pair of tongs (chopsticks) to pull the lemons, garlic and thyme out of the cavity.  Tilt the chicken to let the juices dribble into the tin and transfer to a serving platter to rest for at least another 15 minutes.

To make the gravy:-

Pour all the juices from the roasting tin into a non-stick saucepan. Squeeze the juice out of the cooked lemon halves into the saucepan as well. Heat the saucepan over low heat, stir in flour and saute until light brown. Gradually pour in the stock and cook for a few minutes until thickens. Add a splash of soy sauce and black pepper. Stir to combine. Strain the gravy into a jug and serve with the chicken.

Disclaimer: Lurpak bought the ingredients for this post.