Ingredients

1. Whole Chicken with skin – 1 kg

Marinade

2. Olive oil – 3 tbsp
3. Italian dry herbs – 3 tsp
4. Lemon salt – 2 tsp
5. Garlic powder – 1 tsp
6. Lemon (big) - 1
7. Butter (room temperature) – 3 to 4 tbsp

For potatoes

8. Big potatoes – 3
9. Garlic cloves - 5
10. Olive oil – 2 tbsp
11. Italian herbs – 1/2 tsp
12. Butter – 2 tsp
13. Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp

Method

To prepare your chicken

1. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry.

For the chicken marination

2. Take a bowl add 2tsp Italian herb and 1tsp of lemon salt with all other marinade ingredients except butter and mix well. In the Italian herb and lemon salt, there was enough sea salt, so I have not added any additional seasoning.
3. Add the olive oil in the marinade and mix, rub this marinate on the chicken all over and inside its cavity. Cut the lemons into half and put the lemons half inside the cavity.
4. With the help of your 2 fingers loosen the meat and skin slightly and apply the butter inside the skin on the chicken chest , its back and its thighs, legs part, be careful not to tear the skin. Rub some softened butter also all over the chicken and under its cavity also. Sprinkle 1tsp of Italian herbs and lemon salt, on the top of chicken , chest part and rub again . cover the chicken and place it in the fridge for 2hrs or more.

Preparing potatoes

5. Cut the potatoes into half and sprinkle the Italian herbs and pepper on each potato. Drizzle olive on each potato and the rub with little butter on each potato and keep it aside. Add the garlic cloves with its skin and mix with the potatoes. I didn’t add salt, as some Italian seasoning, sea salt is already there. Keep it ready.

cooking the chicken

6. Take your whole marinated chicken out of the fridge 30 to 40 minutes before it goes into the oven. Chicken is best cooked at its normal temperature.
7. Preheat oven to 230C for 10 to 15 minutes. Place the whole marinated chicken, breast-side up, in a grill or wrack and keep roasting pan or tray under the chicken, so that any juice of chicken and fat melts and falls under the roasting pan.
8. Roast the chicken on high temperature 230c for 20minutes and then lower the temperature for 180c for 25minutes.
9. Take out the chicken, carefully with the grill stand and keep it on a plate, so that no juices of chicken go waste. Wear your hand gloves.
10. Take the roasting pan in which all the juice and fat of chicken is there, place the marinated potatoes with its marinate and mix it with the chicken dripped fat.
11. Place the roasting pan under the oven again and the chicken also with wrack or grill and cook the chicken and potatoes with high temperature again for 230c for 20minutes and again low temperature for 180c 20minutes.
12. Before lowering the temperature I turned the potatoes upside down, so that the potatoes are well coated with chicken fat which is dripping and get good roasting colour. Basting the potatoes with the chicken fats and its juice, gives more flavour and the potatoes tastes good and delicious. Wear gloves and turn the potatoes, need to be careful as the chicken is on the wrack.
13. To test if the chicken is ready, insert a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh. If the juices run clear with no sign of pink, this indicates that the chicken is cooked. Even for the potatoes, insert and check.
14. Apply butter on the chicken again (optional) and cover the chicken with foil and set aside for 15 to 20minutes to rest before carving or cutting into pieces to serve.
15. After carving, I squeezed the lemon which was under cavity all over the chicken, my chicken was so succulent and juicy, I couldn’t resist to lick my fingers, it was heaven. My best roasted chicken. Carefully cut down between the leg and the breast.
16. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off. I cut the chicken into 4 big pieces.
17. After carving , I kept under the preheated oven 230c for 15minutes and the roasted potatoes also again after basting with the fat and juice of chicken which dripped under the tray.
18. Serve carved chicken with the roasted potatoes and drizzle of remaining juice and fat on the chicken, its like flavoured thin sauce not gravy, if there is no sauce also, it does not matter as the chicken is so juicy and yum . Squeeze the garlic clove on the potatoes and chicken my roasted chicken and potatoes were so delicious, it was finished in minutes licking fingers and also baking tray got cleaned by itself.
19. The potatoes also got roasted with garlic and chicken flavour.

Notes

1. Use butter and olive oil as per your requirement.
2. Always use oven gloves and tongs while cooking.
3. Cook the chicken as per your oven instructions , until the chicken is fully cooked.