Halogen oven chef: simple roast chicken and chips recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chicken | 12 comments
Photo: Andrew roasting potatoes
Yesterday, I sent Danny into town with £5 and carte blanche to “buy something tasty for supper”. You may agree that it is a bit of a risk to ask a man to choose my kind of treat (prawn with spaghetti, scampi and chips, a take away Indian meal for two for a fiver) but I didn’t really care what he brought back as long as he did the cooking.
After poking around the meal deals at Waitrose, he plumped for chicken. A whole chicken. Not my idea of fast food, I must admit.
“I just fancied chicken and chips,” he explained apologetically.
Initially he intended to spatchcock it and got the cleaver out from the back of our packed kitchen utensil drawer. Then he noticed the cooking instructions on the packaging. 40 minutes at 200c or 180c fan oven.
“That seems very fast,” he said, “I normally cook any chicken for at least one hour. Maybe an hour and half minimum when I wrap it to keep it juicy. So it may take a little longer. Let’s experiment with Andrew.”
Andrew is our new halogen oven. He is very, very good but a bit of a learning curve as regards timings and temperatures. So far Danny has mastered roast lamb, roast beef and roast chicken with roast potatoes. One essential element when roasting meat is the collar or extender ring.
We had a really simple chicken and chips supper. The chicken tasted like the deep-fried version that you get in a chip shop. Excellent as one of Andrew’s good points is that he can cook a succulent chicken or joint with no extra fat.
This is Danny’s recipe and method. In the end it took 60 minutes.
Simple roast chicken and chips
Ingredients:
1 small chicken 1.5kg
McCain’s oven chips for two (frozen)
Method:
Place the chicken, breast side up, on the bottom rack at 200c for 20 minutes.
Then turn it over, breast side down for a further 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, on your worktop area, arrange the frozen chips on the top rack.
Turn the chicken over and slit the thighs open with a sharp knife.
Insert the top rack in the halogen oven (it may just rest upon the chicken) and place the extender ring on the top of the bowl.
Turn the temperature up to 225c and Cook for 10 minutes.
Turn the fattest chips over.
Warm some plates in your conventional oven at approx 80c
Cook the chicken and chips for another 10 minutes at 225c.
Switch off the halogen oven. Take out the chips and transfer them to the plates in the warm conventional oven. Leave the chicken inside the halogen oven to relax for 10 minutes.
Carve (or pull apart, if you prefer) the chicken and serve.
Simple buttered peas or petit pois go well this dish.
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My husband has given me a halogen oven for my birthday – it’s terrific and is called Victoria because it makes lovely buns and scones much quicker and with less hassle than using a conventional oven. We had chicken,brussel sprouts, carrots and baked potato for our first meal – very tasty! Looking forward to trying the many recipes posted on the various halogen oven websites
Hi, would you kindly send me recipe for chicken,sprouts,carrots and baked potato with temp/times, sounds yummy. I live on my own now &just got a halogen oven. Appreciate your help Alexander
We have an Andrew and your right he does love to cook, anything we put in him he cooks to perfection faster than our traditional oven but browns unlike our microwave oven so you get best of both worlds.
I just put my plates in the toaster to heat them up. It only shorts the fuse and sets on fire sometimes.
Looks like I messed up the layout with my link – sorry 🙁
Looks lovely!
Just spotted this, thought you might be interested
http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?fromPage=home&mpe_id=31038&catalogId=10051&productId=184339&evtype=CpgnClick&intv_id=105017&langId=100&storeId=10001&ddkey=http:ClickInfo
The only flaw I can see with this dish was that you had to use the main oven to warm the plates. If you have a microwave, then there is a solution which I would imagine is cheaper than heating your main oven. Stack plates in the microwave with around a tablespoon of water on each plate. Microwave on full power, timing would have to be learned with practise, based on power of microwave and number of plates. Basically the microwave heats the water which in turn heats the plates. A quick dry with a teatowel just before using the plates should be all you need.
I’m using my Andrew right now to cook imam bayaldi. Andrew turned out to be a very good investment; I use him more than the regular oven, and when – much to my surprise – I saw halogen ovens on sale here in Croatia, they didn’t look as shiny and sleek, AND were more expensive. A great recommendation Fiona – thank you.
Yum!
Does the ‘Andrew’ come with the ‘Danny’ deluxe attachment, or does it have to be ordered separately 😉
Celia
PS: Hope you’re enjoying the sun and the growth in the garden – but keep wrapped up warm, there’s a nippy wind blowing.
Yum! Chicken, chips & peas is my kind of lunch… We make our own oven chips: cut the potatoes into wedges, toss in a little olive oil, sprinkle with pepper (& salt if you tend to salt food) and cook in a hot oven (220C ) until cooked & crispy – usually takes 35-40 minutes.
On the time it takes to cook a chicken front Delia is now advocating the high temperature shorter cooking time approach. Not tried it yet (and don’t have the benefit of Andrew!) but sounds like I should give it a go if it tastes like (a healthier version of) fish & chip shop chicken. Time for lunch, methinks…