Roast Chicken With Butternut Squash Recipe | Food

Date Published:: 01/11/2007

This is my comfort food. Roast chicken hits all the spots when I'm feeling down and makes a fabulous meal in winter with braised red cabbage, or in the summer with a salad. This chicken is healthier because I've bulked out the potatoes with squash, while cooking the potatoes in their skins means they absorb less fat and keep all their nutrients. With lots of immune-system boosting garlic and fragrant rosemary, it is packed full of flavour.

Serves 6
Ready in 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 lemon
A couple of sprigs of rosemary, chopped
A couple of sprigs of thyme, chopped
6–8 cloves of garlic
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
1.8–2kg free-range chicken
300g new potatoes
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into medium-sized pieces
2 red onions, quartered
250ml white wine

Nutritional Information

Per serving:
338 calories

Method: How to cook healthy roast chicken with butternut squash

1. Preheat a conventional oven to 220ºC or a fan-assisted one to 200ºC. Finely grate the zest from the lemon and mix in a bowl with the herbs, two cloves of the garlic, peeled and chopped, and some salt and pepper. Add a teaspoon of olive oil and rub the mixture between the skin and the chicken breast.

2. This isn't a glamorous job, but it does make it taste good. You basically pull the skin up off the breast, keeping it attached.

3. You then stick your fingers up between the skin and meat and rub the mixture in. Finally, halve the lemon and pop inside the chicken cavity.

4. Put the chicken in a roasting tray and cook for 20 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 190ºC, or 170ºC for a fan oven, and continue roasting for another 50 minutes.

5. I sometimes turn the chicken to cook breast-side down halfway through cooking because this keeps it very moist, though it is less visually appealing because the skin doesn't crisp so much.

6. Place the potatoes, squash, red onion and remaining garlic cloves in a separate roasting tray and sprinkle with a little olive oil and sea salt.

7. The vegetables need to go in for the last hour. When the time is up, put the chicken and vegetables onto a plate, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

8. Put the tray onto the heat and add the wine. Season and let bubble away for a couple of minutes, stirring and making sure that you get all the chicken residue from the bottom of the pan.

9. Serve the roast chicken (skin off) with French beans, or broccoli stir-fried with chilli and garlic.