The perfect roast chicken dinner

[Dustyblue]

I've been craving a proper roast dinner (it's the start of winter here in Oz) and I think chicken is the go. Much cheaper than the rest & such a fabulous meal.

To me a proper roast chicken dinner should have:

Homemade gravy from the chicken juices
Roast potatoes and pumpkin
Sage & onion stuffing, both up the bum and as stuffing balls roasted with the veggies
Peas

Parsnips are good but haven't seen a decent one in the shops yet.

What do you all serve with a roast chook?

Pork and sage stuffing or pigs in blankets (both is overkill- I probably prefer piggies)

homemade gravy with masala wine or sherry for a kick

yorkshire puddings- all roasts

roasted veg- parsnips, carrots and potatoes

one steamed green veg

I roast our chicken upside down for succulence and rest well. I like a large organic corn fed free range one for flavour. Such a treat!

I do like pumpkin or butternut squash but pumpkin or other interesting squashes are seasonal, butternut squash is generally available but can be expensive out of season so i don't bother with a roast

Chipolatas ( sometimes wrapped in bacon) peas,carrots, broccoli, stuffing, gravy ( from a jar) roast potatoes and parsnips.

@mitogoshi OP is in Australia and pumpkin is never expensive here and the price stays stable all year. At least, in WA it does.

My corn fritters are basically pancake batter with tinned sweetcorn added and fried like small pancakes. According to my 1970s cookbook it is traditional to have with chicken Marland.

Kumara!

Whole roasted garlic heads, I slice the whole thing in half and then squeeze out the cloves. Swede, mashed with butter and some white pepper - maybe your pumpkin is the equivalent of this.

That's it! With chives or parsley. No idea why but my parents/grandparents often served them with a chicken/turkey roast. You can sweep them over your plate at the end to catch the leftover gravy.

@TheSandgroper '@mitogoshi

Yes pumpkin is pretty much available all year round in Oz. Autumn is peak season here- just coming into winter, I was able to get some gorgeous butternut squash from the local community garden. It's lush it is!

Bread sauce!!!!

Thanks all again for a brilliant thread! I've saved it for next time I feel the urge.

Sorry for no pics, I just got a new phone & am still fiddling with it. I went with:

-Chook roasted with loads of butter on the outside and halved lemon, thyme & rosemary up the bum. All of these posts about not stuffing the bird that way made me re-consider.

-Roasted butternut pumpkin/squash, potatoes, red onions & sage

-Proper (?) Yorkshire pudding. As in, in a rectangular pan, not a muffin tin. Same way you'd do a Toad in the Hole. Thank goodness, it puffed up beautifully!

-Peas with wilted baby spinach, broccolini & butter.

-Lashings of proper gravy. I mean, drench the plate. Salt & pepper. Glass of white wine.

Bloody fantastic!

@Dustyblue more information please. Tell me about your white wine. What do you serve with chicken? I likes wine. In another life, wine used to pay my wages.

You dinner sounds like it will keep you going for a week!

Buy a really good chicken...it honestly makes all the difference to have a free range one.

@TheSandgroper I had a nice crisp Sauv Blanc from WA. It went down beautifully.

Just out of interest- what a does a really good chicken cost in the UK these days?

Over here you can get the cheaper, likely battery-farmed and pale looking ones, or the free-range, corn-fed etc ones that are smaller but taste so much better.

Cheap chook in Oz- $AUD12 / £6.20
Better chook in Oz - $AUD18 / £9.30

I haven't done weight comparisons but the Better Chook will be smaller.

@Dustyblue Yes, a WA Sauvignon Blanc is certainly crisp and fresh.

@TheSandgroper Actually that made me sound as if I know what I'm doing with wine. I don't really.

I recently enjoyed a French Reisling that the barely-legal staff member at Dan Murphy's said was good. He was right, it was! Basically I know nothing!

I would love a French Riesling but DH never does well on European wines. Ut I could have a look and read the label, hey? Thanks for the heads up.

I'm enjoying this thread so much.
When I was about 7 our teacher read us "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and, after the Turkish Delight scene, asked what we'd all have chosen in Edmund's place. There was a lot of chocolate, sausages, doughnuts...
Even then, my choice was a chicken dinner.

My perfect roast chicken dinner has home made sage, onion and bacon stuffing in the chicken, chipolatas, roast potatoes and parsnips, brussels sprouts and chestnuts, and bread sauce. My mum disapproved of gravy, so we never had it growing up, and even now, I rarely eat it - but will make it for dh and the dses. I do like the dish juices, from carving the chicken, poured over the stuffing.

Sage and onion stuffing up the bum? I think I feel a new username coming on 😁

We need to push the boat out and buy better chickens to perfect our roast. Also in oz here, so roast pumpkin, potato, sometimes carrot and parsnip, and peas and cabbage as a legacy from my childhood. We stuff the chicken also. Where I really fall down is the gravy. I swear I made it perfectly well when I lived at home in my teens and never felt like I had the hang of gravy since.

Gravy
Yorkshires
Roast potatoes
Roast parsnips
Mash
Carrots
Cabbage
😊

This - maybe some sage and onion stuffing as well.
no pumpkin 🎃

Roast chicken, no stuffing!

Roast tatties, carrots, green beans and gravy, not with juices from the chicken though, just Bisto Best!

Skirlie, a Scottish staple, made with onions and oatmeal, with a bit of salt.

I only use chicken breast fillets though, I can't stand any other part of a chicken.

I boil the potatoes with a whole lemon and unpeeled garlic cloves for ten mins. stab the lemon a few times and shove it in the chicken along with garlic cloves and a bunch of thyme

then when chicken is half way done, add the lemony potatoes and chopped rosemary.

this is a Jamie Oliver recipe.

I also like a middle Eastern roast chicken. this will sound weird, but I poach a baby chicken for 20/30 minutes, then rub inside and outside with a mix of olive oil, cumin, chilli flakes and ras el hanout. fill it up with hot lemon and garlic cloves and shove in oven. Great with a herby couscous and steamed veg.