Five Ways with Roast Chicken

There simply isn't anything more delicious than the smell of a roast chicken in the oven and I've got into a good habit of cooking one every weekend, shredding the meat  and using for 2-3 meals throughout the week. It's so handy knowing you have cooked chicken ready to go plus the meat is far more succulent than cooking meat off the bone. Here is my failsafe and totally amazing recipe for roast chicken as well as my top 5 meals to use shredded chicken in.

1 medium roast chicken

50g butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp sea salt

zest of half lemon

small handful of thyme, leaves picked and sprigs discarded

2 garlic cloves, crushed

-------------------------------------------------

Preheat the oven to 220oC. Place all the ingredients (apart from the chicken!) in a food processor or bowl and beat together. Push the butter under the skin of the chicken and spread on top of the legs. Place in a medium roasting tray and roast for 30 minutes before turning the oven down to 180oC and cooking for a further hour [Note: when done the legs should easily pull away from the body.] Remove and allow to cool before shredding and storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Note: when using shredded chicken in the recipes above you will not need to cook the chicken for as long as in the recipes but you must make sure that it is heated through and piping hot.