Roast Chicken in Milk, Sage and Citrus

Jamie Oliver is one of my favourite chefs because I find his recipes very practical and "homey." This recipe is adapted from his Chicken in Milk recipe, which he describes as "with sage and a delicious lemony kick. Trust me, you're going to love this one---the milk creates the most amazing, flavoursome sauce."

I tried this recipe for the first time on Christmas Eve Dinner, but I found it to be quite bland. There was hardly any taste and none of that "flavoursome sauce" that Jamie was talking about. So midway through the recipe, I added half a bouillon, a teaspoon of chili flakes, the juice of one lemon and orange, as well as the rinds. In addition, I found out that I had run out of cinnamon sticks (%$#!!??) so I substituted that with star anise and cloves. Thus, I have adapted this recipe as "Roast Chicken in Milk, Sage & Citrus."





ROAST CHICKEN IN MILK, SAGE & CITRUS
Serves 8

1 whole chicken
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Olive Oil
1 teaspoon chili flakes
3 star anise pods
10 cloves
1 bunch of sage leaves picked
10 cloves of garlic, skin left on
1/2 chicken bouillon
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 orange, zest and juice
1 liter of full cream milk

Procedure:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Get a deep, oven proof pot with a cover, where you can put the whole chicken. I used my Le Crueset French Oven for this purpose. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, rubbing all over.

2.  Heat some olive oil on the pot, and once it's hot, put the chicken. Fry each side until it's brown. (Tip: Don't be impatient and move the chicken around. Just keep it there until the skin crisps up, before you move it!)  I REALLY love the Le Crueset French Oven for this as it made it effortless to fry this huge bird.

Make sure you turn it on its side too, for even browning all over.

3. Remove the chicken and set it aside.  Spoon off the oil in the pot and discard it. What will be left will be the caramelised bits from the chicken, which are full of flavour.

4. In the pot, pour all of the milk, sage, star anise, cloves, garlic, bouillon, lemon and orange rind and juice. Mix well.

5.  Put back the chicken. Cover and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, basting every 15 minutes.  You will see that the sauce will coagulate a bit, due to the citrus fruit rinds and juices.  This is ok. After 45 minutes, remove the cover and bake for 30 minutes more for a crisp skin.  The chicken is unbelievably tender, with the flesh literally falling off the bone. Serve piping hot.

We found that we couldn't finish the chicken in one sitting. Or even two. There was still some of it left after a week! It had turned into some kind of disintegrated chicken mush, but which was nonetheless flavourful.  See my other recipe on how to "refashion" the leftovers into empanadas here.