Mediterranean-Style Roast Chicken
Level up your roast with this Mediterranean-Style Roast Chicken!
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup mixed herbs, chopped (we used parsley, mint and dill)
- 3 red-skinned potatoes, quartered
- 1 red capsicum, deseeded, sliced
- 1 small eggplant, cut into wedges
- 2 small red onions, quartered
- 2 small zucchini, sliced
- 260g truss tomatoes
- 2 tsp lemon, zest
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 250g long-grain microwave rice
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 1.2-2.4kg fresh whole chicken
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Rinse chicken, inside and out, under cold water and pat dry with paper towel. Combine rice, herbs, half the pine nuts, garlic, zest and lemon juice in a bowl. Chop half the olives and add to rice mixture. Stir in 1 1/2 tbs oil and mix well. Loosely fill chicken with about half the stuffing then tie legs together. Rub chicken with 2 tsp oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan, breast-side down, and bake for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toss all vegetables, except tomatoes, with remaining oil and season to taste. Place remaining stuffing on a greased sheet of foil and wrap loosely to enclose. Set aside.
- Turn chicken over and arrange vegetables around chicken. Bake for a further 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and remaining olives to pan. Place stuffing parcel in oven and bake for a further 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Rest chicken for 10 minutes before carving.
- Serve chicken with stuffing, roast vegetables and topped with remaining pine nuts.
