Anne Morgan Nothing goes inside the bird in Delia Smith’s roast chicken with lemon and thyme. Instead a quartered lemon, wedges of red onion and unpeeled garlic roast around it in one tin at 200°C for an hour, and it serves 4. Thyme is scattered over the lot, and then the pan juices make a creamy wine sauce while the bird rests.
It’s printed only in The Delia Collection: Chicken (2003), in the autumn chapter, and her point in the headnote is that lemons soften and turn mellow once they’ve been roasted.
Her traditional roast chicken with bacon and stuffing takes a bigger bird slowly for Sunday lunch. Her fast-roast chicken, from How to Cook Book Two, tucks the lemon inside a small bird at 230°C instead.
Out of the tin come soft, sweet onion wedges and sticky lemon quarters around a golden bird, with the pale sauce served in a jug.
Delia Smith’s Chicken with Roasted Lemons, Red Onion, Thyme and Garlic
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes1
hour10
minutes610
kcalA whole chicken roasted in one tin with lemon quarters, onion wedges, garlic cloves and thyme, finished with a white wine and crème fraîche sauce.
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
1 chicken of 1.35kg (3lb)
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges through the root
1 large lemon, quartered, plus a squeeze of lemon juice for the sauce
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves and a few small sprigs
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the sauce:
275ml (10fl oz) dry white wine
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
Directions
- Before you start: Take the chicken from the fridge about an hour ahead, or 30 minutes on a hot day, and snip off the string around its legs.
- Heat the oven: Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan), gas mark 6.
- Fill the tin: Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a solid, flameproof roasting tin of about 23 x 28cm and toss the onion, lemon and garlic in it. Push them to the edges and set the chicken in the middle.
- Oil and season: Rub the remaining oil over the skin, then spread the onion, lemon and garlic round the bird. Season well and scatter the thyme leaves and sprigs over everything.
- Roast: Roast for 1 hour, basting once or twice.
- Rest: Move the chicken to a carving board with the onion, lemon and garlic, cover with foil and leave it for 20 minutes.
- Sauce: Spoon the excess fat from the juices, set the tin over direct heat and pour in the wine. Let it bubble down to about half, then stir in the crème fraîche and a small squeeze of lemon, bring it back to a simmer and season.
- Serve: Carve on to warm plates so everyone gets some onion, lemon and garlic. Add any juices from the board to the sauce, spoon some over and pour the rest into a jug.
Notes
- The tin goes straight on the hob for the sauce, so it has to be flameproof, as she says. I wouldn't try this in a glass or ceramic dish, which is my own warning.
- Before the chicken rests, pierce the thickest part of the leg. The juices should come out clear, or a probe should show 75°C, my own check.
FAQs
What do I do with the roasted garlic and lemon?
Eat them. Her serving note says to squeeze the soft garlic out of its skin as you eat and to scrape the lemony flesh off the skins.
I also mash a clove or two into the tin before the wine is added. That’s my own habit, and it gives the sauce more body.
How long for a bigger chicken?
The recipe is written for a 1.35kg bird and an hour at 200°C. For one of about 1.8kg I’d allow about 1 hour 20 minutes, my own adjustment, and check that the leg juices run clear.
For a really large bird, her slow Sunday roast at 190°C suits it better.
Can I add potatoes?
Not in the same tin, to my mind, as the lemon and onion need the room and potatoes crowded in would steam. I’d roast them on a separate tray on the shelf above, which is my own suggestion.
Her own chicken and potato supper for one oven is the honey and ginger chicken tray bake, where saffron potatoes roast on their own tray alongside.
What if I only have dried thyme?
Use about a teaspoon instead of the tablespoon of thyme leaves, my own rule, since dried thyme is stronger. Leave out the sprigs.
How long do chicken pieces take?
About 50 minutes. That’s the timing her Oven-baked Chicken in Maple Barbecue Sauce, in the same book, gives 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks at the same 200°C.
Using pieces here is my own swap. Tuck the lemon quarters, onion wedges and garlic cloves around them in one layer and baste once or twice.
