Roast Chicken, with a Provencial Taste

Having spent a wonderful spring day in the sunshine at the Paris to Provence French festival in Melbourne I wanted a dinner easy to prepare, with some of the flavours of the south of France.

We started the day with lunch of baguette filled with ham, brie and a lovely fig and onion chutney, washed down, naturally with a glass of champagne.

The event which is held every year showcases the best that France has to offer, from food, wines, linens, market baskets, perfumes and a particular favourite of mine today shoes.

There is the opportunity to taste all sorts of produce before making the difficult decision of what to buy. Of course it is only difficult as quite frankly I would have bought one or two of everything, common sense prevailed and only a couple of treats made it into my bag to consume in the coming days as little reminders of my recent time in France. After a few hours in the sunshine, a couple of wines it was time to head home and prepare dinner.

Thinking about the flavours I associate with the South of France and the contents of my fridge, I decided to roast chicken with preserved lemon, rosemary, garlic, olives and potatoes. Such a flavoursome dish served with a crisp cold glass of white wine proved the perfect finish to a fabulous day.

 

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients:

• Chicken cut into large pieces (quartered)
• 2- 3 large pieces Preserved lemons pulp removed just use the skin and slice thinly
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 large pieces of rosemary
• about a dozen black olives (pitted is best)
• 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into quarters
• olive oil

Heat the oven to about 200 degrees.

Place the rosemary into the bottom of the pan and about half of the lemon, place in the chicken pieces, potatoes, garlic and olives.  Sprinkle with olive oil  the remaining lemon and salt and pepper.

Roast for about 15 minutes then turn your over down to 180 degrees for a further 35-45 minutes.

Your chicken should brown up nicely along with the potatoes.

When serving leave out the lemon, it is a very strong flavour that if eaten whole will potentially overpower the other flavours.

Enjoy a mouth full of provincial sunshine.

Below is preserved lemon before I sliced it.

 

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