Roasted Garlic Chicken

This is one of the mains on Friday night too. In case anyone wonders if I'm out of my mind, 3 mains in a meal !! Yes, I just love to cook & feed my guests well, I only get the chance to have friends over once or maybe twice a year !

The secret to a perfectly roasted chicken is to brine the chicken before roasting as brining makes the chicken so moist & flavourful even if roasted breast side up ! I get perfect crispy, moist roast chicken every time !


Roasted Garlic :


Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel the outer layers of 3 garlic bulbs, leaving the skins intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

Place the garlic heads on a baking pan. drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to amke sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Bake for 30-35 mins, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

Allow the garlic to cool, use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.


Roasted Garlic Chicken

1/2 Cup roasted garlic cloves
2 Cups water
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Lemon, cut into 4 wedges
2 Bay leaves
1 x 1.5 - 2 kg chicken


Prepare the brine by combining garlic, water, salt, pepper & olive oil in a blender. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedges into the brine, bland. Stir in the bay leaves.

Place chicken in a large, resealable plastic bag. Pout the brine all over the chicken in thebag. Add the (already squeezed) lemon wedges. Squeeze out all the air from the bag & seal. Refrigerate overnight, for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Remove the chicken from the brine & pat dry with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle salt & pepper all over the chicken. Place the chicken on a rack, in a roasting pan, breast side up. roast for an hour or until the juices run clear from the thigh when pierced with a fork. Let the chicken rest for 10mins before carving & serving.