Photo: thebittenword.com / Flickr

This roast chicken recipe is a meal in itself and makes a perfect Sunday lunch if you’re short on time. It’s as easy as putting boiled potatoes and pumpkin, whole garlic and chicken together in the oven and giving it a little over an hour to cook while you get on with other things. Don’t be alarmed by how much garlic is used here – it will be sweet and mild when it is cooked. The garlic should be cooked in its skin and has to be squeezed when eating it.

Ingredients

You will need 315 grams of sweet potatoes that have been peeled and cut into wedges, 315 grams of pontiac potatoes which have also been peeled and cut into wedges, 315 grams of pumpkin which has been cut into wedges after peeling, one chicken that has been cut into eight pieces (or allow for one and a half kilograms of chicken pieces), three tablespoons of olive oil, one tablespoon of fresh thyme, twenty unpeeled garlic cloves (large cloves are best) and half a teaspoon of salt.

Method

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Place a large saucepan on a medium heat and bring some salted water to the boil. Place the pontiac potatoes, the sweet potatoes and the pumpkin into the water and cook for about five minutes.

Drain the vegetables well and then place the vegetables and the chicken pieces into a baking dish. Drizzle olive oil over the contents of the dish and scatter with garlic cloves and thyme leaves. Season with salt and then roast in the oven for an hour and a quarter.

Be sure to turn the dish every 20 minutes until such time as the potatoes, pumpkin and chicken are properly cooked and crispy brown.

Serve your chicken and vegetable dish as soon as possible – and preferably with a fresh green salad.

Tags: cooking, healthy lunch, recipe