Roast chicken, cucumber salad and separated gravy
Description
This is my favourite summer chicken recipe, a recipe from my grandmother. She would always cook this for her birthday in July, when the family gathered to celebrate her.
Ingredients
For the gravy:
For the sweet and sour cucumber salad:
For the salad:
For serving:
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with parsley and whole peppercorns. Place on a roasting pan and rub the outside of the chicken in salt. Roast for 20 minutes then add 400 ml water to the roasting pan for gravy later, now and then open the oven and with a spoon take the chicken fat that has melted off and pour over the chicken, that will make the skin crunchier. Cooking time is 1 hour 15 minutes, maybe a bit more, check the inside of the thigh to see if done, or use a thermometer, it should be 75°C.
While in the oven whisk together the vinegar and sugar, and when all the sugar has dissolved slice the cucumber in whole slices a few millimetres in thickness. Place the cucumber in the vinegar brine, fold gently now and then, but otherwise leave to its time for serving.
While the chicken is in the oven, boil new potatoes and prepare the salad. Rinse the lettuce and drain well. Mix the double cream, sugar, salt, and lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Fold the lettuce leaves into the dressing shortly before serving.
For the gravy, pour liquid from the roasting pan into a saucepan, add the cream, and bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper. The gravy will be kind of separated; give it a nice whisk just before pouring on your plate.
Carve the chicken into 8-10 pieces as you prefer and serve with boiled potatoes, pickled cucumber, salad, and hot gravy.
A world-class meal indeed.