A chicken pot roast to please the whole family

Old-fashioned and comforting this pot roast is one for the ages

Pot roasted chook is an old-time favourite. Photography: Leon Schoots

Annie Smithers

less than 2 min read

12:26PMAugust 27, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

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Why cook? It is, perhaps, the question most often asked of me. This is of no surprise as I have spent nigh-on 40 years at the stove, and for most of that time it has been a question that I have pondered. My relationship with food has always been complex; my relationship with my job, just as much. The answer lies in the universalities of food and cooking to the human condition. For some, it is only a fuel source, but for most it seems to represent a tangible form of being loved and being able to show love. I most definitely fall into the latter camp.

For more of my favourites, try my lavender scones and sticky date pudding.

Annie Smithers: Leon Schoots

One-pot hero: chicken with all the good bits. Photography: Leon Schoots

Pot-roasted chicken

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 × 1.8kg chicken
• Flaked salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1 bunch of Dutch carrots, washed
• 8 baby potatoes,
• washed
• 1 bunch of baby leeks, washed
• 8 pitted prunes
• 100g Kaiserfleisch or bacon, thinly sliced
• 150ml white wine
• 300ml chicken stock
• Chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan-forced). Heat the butter and olive oil in a cast-iron casserole dish over high heat. Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, place breast-side down in the hot fat and cook until golden brown.
2. Turn chicken and continue cooking until the whole bird is sealed and nicely coloured.
3. Remove from the heat. Position the chicken in the middle of the dish and arrange the thyme sprigs, vegetables, prunes and Kaiserfleisch or bacon around it. Pour in the wine and stock, then return the dish to high heat and bring to the boil. Cover with a tight-fitting lid, transfer to the oven and roast for 1 hour 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and release any steam before carefully removing the lid. Increase the oven temperature to 200C (fan-forced) and roast, uncovered, for another 15 minutes or so to colour the chicken a little more.
5. This can be served straight from the dish. Carefully portion the chicken, then divide among plates with the vegetables.
6. Ladle over the cooking juices, garnish with chopped parsley and serve with lightly boiled greens or a crisp green salad.

Serves 4

This is an edited extract from Kitchen Sentimental by Annie Smithers. Photography: Leon Schoots.