It has been a busy few weeks, I’ve been a bit basic with our meals and we have been living off our freezer staples, I have a little bit of breathing room and a strong craving for something fancier for dinner.

Fancy but easily

In my book, fancy doesn’t mean spending hours ‘in the kitchen boiling to death over a hot stove. This recipe is very fancy but is all cooked on a single tray.

The garlic is the star of this meal for me, the bed of garlic under the chicken means you have a suture frae our through the meat while the roast garlic cloves have a deep rich flavour that compliments the rest of the dish.

The quick peep and hands off cooking measures you can get on with other things and come back to a perfectly roasted chicken.

Italian roast chicken recipe

Ingredients 

• 2 large tomatoes thickly sliced
• 250g cherry tomatoes
• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• 1 garlic bulb peeled and bruised
• 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley chopped
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 1.6 kg chicken

Take a large baking tray.

Place one garlic bulb on the baking tray.

Lay the chicken on top of the garlic.

Spread out the onion next to the chicken.

Add the remaining garlic bulbs on top of the onions.

Add the tomatoes on top of the garlic.

Drizzle the vinegar and olive oil over the chicken and vegetables.

Place the rosemary sprigs on top of the chicken and the vegetables.

Cover the baking tray with baking paper.

Cover the baking paper with foil.

Bake for 1 hour.

Check the chicken to make sure the meat is cooked and the juices are running clear before removing the baking paper and foil, this will depend on the size of the chicken.

Return the chicken to the oven uncovered for another 20 minutes or until the skin is golden brown.

Slice the chicken, squeeze out the garlic and serve while hot.

Equipment

• Roasting tin
• Baking paper 
• Aluminium foil
• Measuring cups
• Scales 

Nutritional disclaimer

Nutrition information is provided as an estimate based on the ingredients used and available in my area (New Zealand). The nutritional information is here to help you understand the recipe; I use MyFitnessPal to generate my estimates. For more accurate nutritional information, please use a nutritional calculator with the ingredients in your area.