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1
u00b0Boil about a dozen potatoes. I like Yukon Golds. Throw a whole lemon into the boiling water with them. Trust me.
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2
u00b0Put your roasting pan in a pre-heated, 400u00b0 oven.
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3
u00b0Take out a whole roasting chicken. I prefer to have the giblets removed.
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4
u00b0Dunk ten or twelve skewers of rosemary into the boiling water for a moment. Shake off the water, then strip the skewers of the rosemary needles. Dunking them in the boiling water releases the oils in the rosemary, yielding more taste. Don't believe me (or Jamie Oliver, who taught it to me)? Try it.
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5
u00b0With the mortar and pestle, bash up the rosemary, a whole head of garlic, the zest of two lemons, and sea salt. Grind it all up until you have a gorgeous, green-yellow paste. Add olive oil and stir it about. Coat the chicken with this mixture. Take a whiff of this.
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6
u00b0 Settle the chicken down into the hot roasting pan. Before you put it back in the oven, retrieve the water-engorged lemon. According to Jamie Oliver, boiling the lemon like this leaves the juices simmering inside of it. Most of us put a cold lemon in the chicken, which means the juices don't start to pervade the chicken meat until the last half hour of cooking. Putting in a hot lemon means the juices release immediately, and the heat of the lemon starts to cook the chicken immediately too. So, stuff the chicken with the hot lemon, and a few more skewers of rosemary. Put this into the oven and cook for half an hour.
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7
u00b0After half an hour, pull out the roasting pan. Take the partially cooked chicken out of the pan and put it on the plate, temporarily. Throw the boiled potatoes onto the bottom of the roasting pan. Be sure to swirl them in the juices that have already formed. Make a divot in the pile of potatoes, then put the chicken back in it. Return the pan to the oven for an additional hour.
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8
At the end of this, you should have the juiciest, easiest roast chicken you have ever made. And the potatoes will be golden brown and soft. Tuck in.
