Jamie Oliver’s lemon-tzatziki chicken recipe
Serves: four people
Ingredients:
One x 1.5kg whole free-range chicken
Two x 200g tubs of tzatziki
Two lemons
Four mixed-colour onions
300g basmati rice
Method
“Use a sharp knife to carefully cut down the back of the chicken, so you can open it out flat,” instructed Jamie Oliver.
“Rub half the tzatziki all over the chicken with the juice of half a lemon and a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then cover and leave to marinate in the fridge.”
It’s recommended to leave the chicken to marinate for at least two hours, but it’s best to marinate overnight.
Once the chicken has marinated
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Peel the onions, finely chop half an onion and place in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt to make a pickle.
Quarter the rest of the onions and place in a deep ovenproof pan, then halve and add the remaining lemon.
Place the chicken skin side up on top and drizzle with half a tablespoon of olive oil.
Roast for one hour and 10 minutes, or until golden and the leg meat pulls easily away from the bone. Then remove the chicken with half the roasted onions and one jammy lemon half to a board for later.
Jamie Oliver said: “Using tongs, carefully squeeze the other jammy lemon half into the pan of tray juices, then cut off and discard the white pith and finely slice the skin, along with the rest of the onions.”
The next step is to put them back into the pan with the rice and 600ml of boiling salted water, then cover and cook on the hob on a medium-low heat for 12 minutes.
Spoon the rice into a serving dish, place the chicken, any resting juices and the reserved roasted onions on top, and spoon over the remaining tzatziki.
Drizzle with one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and serve with the pickle and the reserved cooked lemon half, for squeezing over.
