Roast Chicken, Lemon & a Non-stick Tray ...

Fire_Fox

Am in the middle of plotting a roast dinner for tomorrow - we have a stupidly expensive corn fed chicken which can be padded out with posh Paxo stuffing (Home Bargains ), out-of-date chicken seasoning (20% paprika), out-of-date gravy powder, Whoopsie lemons, Value baking potatoes and sundry vegetables.

Last time I did a lemon roasted chicken I ruined my good non-stick baking tray: I still have said tray but it isn't really non-stick and some of the coating has flaked off. :rolleyes: Thought of putting a whole lemon inside the chicken but I do tend to pour the meat juices out during roasting so that I can baste and use them for gravy. Also I'd prefer to put the stuffing in the chicken as I don't like dry stuffing.

Shall I marinade the chicken in lemon juice overnight? I have never marinated a whole chicken, only pieces ... any better ideas? Should I foil-line the tray to stop it sticking? Again any better ideas? I do have another non-stick which is an oval casserole with pyrex lid that can be used as an oven dish, this one:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70101166
Which I am happy to use but think I would cry if I wrecked it. Should I maybe forget using the lemon?

Thank you in advance!

Sunnyday

I`ve got a big oval enamel roaster that i use if i`m going to put lemons in with the chicken, if you were going to try it in the nice dish i would double line it with foil first just in case.

Unless you are always going to line the spoilt tray with foil each time it is used i would bin it, once the coating has started to break down i don`t think that it is safe to use in case any ends up on the food and is eaten.

I`ve never marinated a whole chicken myself - only pieces but i don`t think that it will be any different, maybe not quite as tasty as the marinade wouldn`t be on every bit but still nice

HTH

SD

ChocClare

Why should it stick? My roast chicken hardly ever does (only if I accidentally incinerate it - we have a stupid electric fan oven which goes a bit nuclear towards the end of cooking time sometimes :rolleyes:).

Corn-fed chicken has such a lovely flavour I'd be loath to ruin it. I would be inclined to line your dish with foil, chop your lemon in half, put the chicken in the tin, squeeze the lemon over the top and then put the two squeezed halves in the cavity of the chicken, maybe with some thyme (or rosemary is surprisingly nice with lemon chicken). Stuff the neck end of the chicken with your stuffing and secure with a skewer. Now sprinkle the breast of the chicken with salt - this crisps up the skin and gives a good flavour. Put into a COLD oven and turn the heat on. After half an hour, turn the chicken over so it's breast down. Quite a lot of juices will come out at that point, but I've never found I needed to baste because the breast is sitting in the juices if you see what I mean. Roast for a further however long you like it and turn it back up the right way for the last 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate to rest and make the gravy in the roasting tin, using all the juices and sticky bits. I then tip this into one of those fat separator gravy jug things (technical term).

Apologies if this is telling you what you already know - I hope I didn't misunderstand the question!