Nothing is better than tucking into a roast dinner and it is incredibly easy to improve this British staple with the right ingredients. Mary Berry has an easy way to spice up your Sunday meal with her scalloped potatoes and roasted chicken recipe.
In her cookbook ‘Cook and Share’ Mary wrote: “So often sharing a roast is the best way to spend a Sunday and one chicken is never enough with hungry teenagers around, so try this simple recipe to share with the gang.
“Chicken is great value but always buy free-range. Get two large birds for those who have big appetites. The scalloped potatoes are cooked in the oven at the same time, which makes it even easier.”
This is a fantastic way to prepare a chicken so it is crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and seasoned to perfection.
However, what is so great about this recipe is that is a cheap simplified way to stop making the same roast potatoes every week and make an incredibly flavourful potato dish with one three extra ingredients.
How to make Mary Berry’s roasted chicken with scalloped potatoes
Ingredients
To make the scalloped potatoes:
- 1.2kg of peeled potatoes (thinly sliced)
- One onion (thinly sliced)
- 55g of butter
- 600ml of chicken stock
To make the roast chicken:
- Two whole chickens (around 1.75kg each)
- Eight bay leaves
- One lemon (sliced in half)
- One large garlic (sliced in half)
- One tablespoon of paprika
- Small bunch of sage leaves
- 150ml of white wine
- 300ml of chicken stock
- 55g of plain flour
Instructions
How to prepare the chicken
To begin, preheat the oven to 200C (180C Fan or Gas Mark 6). Then, grease a shallow oven-proof dish.
Place the chickens on a board, and then add half the bay leaves, a lemon half and a third of the sage in the cavity of each bird.
Then, in a small bowl mix the paprika and butter together. Spread it on the breasts of the chicken and then season with salt and pepper.
Add the remaining sage, garlic, wine and stock to the base of an oven-proof dish (not the one prepared earlier). Put a large grill rack on top, and place the chicken so they are sitting side-by-side on top of the rack.
How to prepare the potatoes
To make the potato gratin, slice the potatoes very thinly into discs and place the slices at the bottom of the prepared oven-proof dish.
Cut the onions into thin slices and well and place on top of the potatoes along with a few cubes of butter and a little stock.
Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, then keep layering the potatoes, and adding the stock until you reach the top. Then, cover the dish with butter tin foil.
How to cook the potatoes and chicken
Place the chicken on the top shelf of the oven and place the potatoes on the shelf below. Cook both the potatoes and chicken for one hour and 30 minutes.
After 45 minutes, make to remove the tin foil from the potatoes. Make sure to keep a close eye on the chicken and if they seem to be browning too quickly then cover with tin foil.
Once the chicken is golden and the potatoes are tender, remove them from the oven and cover with tin foil to keep them warm while you prepare the gravy.
Strain the juices from the roasting tin and skim as much fat as possible, then place in a jug. Try to get at least 450ml of juices from the roasting tin but add extra stock if you need to increase the amount.
Place the roasting tin that held the chicken on the stove. Return the fat and juices from the jug into the tin but also add some flour. Stir the mixture for a few seconds, then whisk until you have a thick and smooth gravy.
Carve the chicken, serve the potatoes with the gravy and your mouthwatering roast dinner dish if ready to eat.