Name: Roast chicken with tarragon, garlic and lemon
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 4 - 6
Ingredients: 50 gm butter, softened; 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil; ½ cup (firmly packed) tarragon leaves, coarsely chopped; 1 garlic clove, crushed; Finely grated rind of 1 lemon; 1 chicken (1.4kg-1.8kg), brought to room temperature; Lemon halves, for squeezing

Roast chicken with tarragon, garlic and lemon

A chef shares her go-to roast chicken recipe.

Roast chicken with preserved lemon and herbs

Serves 4 - 6

Prep

15M

Cook

1H 15M

Total

1H 30M

“This is my standard roast chook,” says Brigitte Hafner. “It’s super-easy and delicious. I use tarragon because it’s such a good match with chicken and it grows wild in my garden, but sage or thyme also work really well.”

Ingredients

50 gm butter, softened

50 ml extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup (firmly packed) tarragon leaves, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

1 chicken (1.4kg-1.8kg), brought to room temperature

Lemon halves, for squeezing

Method

1.Preheat oven to 175°C. Combine butter, oil, tarragon, garlic and lemon rind in a bowl. Carefully separate skin from breast of chicken by running your fingers under skin, keeping skin intact. Evenly distribute most of the herb butter under skin with your hands, rubbing remaining over the chicken. Season chicken with salt, then truss legs with kitchen string and fold wings under. Transfer to a roasting pan and roast, basting every 20 minutes, until the juices run clear when a thigh is pierced with a skewer (45 minutes for a 1.4kg chicken and up to 1 hour 15 minutes for a 1.8kg chicken). Set aside loosely covered with foil to rest (15-20 minutes), then serve with pan juices mixed with a squeeze of lemon to spoon over.