RECIPE: Roast chicken and vegetables

Old-fashioned roasted chicken is always a good idea for any lunch or dinner menu. Cape Town realtor and home cook Miranda Steduto shares one of her favourites, roasted sticky barbeque chicken with roasted vegetables.  

The Eastern Cape born home cook, blogger and photographer was born without the sense of smell. The anosmic home cook believes great cooking comes from people who love food and cook with heart.   

Steduto believes butternut and corn are undeniable favourites in any Mzansi households. She admits that this recipe takes lot of time and patience, but “assembling it is the enjoyable part and your kitchen will smell amazing,” she adds.  

• READ: Anosmic home cook tastes her way in the kitchen

Ingredients: 

• 500 g  chicken wings 
• 500 g  chicken drumsticks (or 1kg half and half) 
• 300 g  fresh corn on the cob 
• 200 g rainbow carrots 

• 250 g  diced butternut (comes prepacked) 
• 2kg  roasting or everyday potatoes (4, 6, 8 or however many potatoes you want to use) 
• 4 cloves  fresh garlic 
• salt & pepper for seasoning 
• 2 tbp  unsalted butter 

• 1/2 cup  canola oil (vegetable oil) 

For marinade: 

• 2 tbsp  tomato sauce 
• 1/4 cup  light sodium soy sauce (or Worcestershire Sauce) 
• 1 tbsp  sriracha sauce 

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional) 
• 2 tbsps hoisin sauce (not easily substituted so leave it out if you don’t have it) – you can also use barbecue sauce if you like the taste. 
• 4 tbsp muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar, regular brown sugar or even honey 
• 1 tbsp  thinly sliced ginger 
• 1/2  fresh lemon (juiced)

• 1 tbsp  olive oil, sesame oil or peanut oil 

Herbs and spices 

• 1 tbsp  chicken spice 
• 1 tsp  cayenne 
• 1/2 tsp  dried thyme 

• 1/2 tsp  dried oregano 
• Fresh rosemary 
• 3 tsp fine sea salt 
• 1/2 tsp  cracked black pepper 
• 1/4 tsp  cinnamon 

Garnish 

• Finely sliced spring onion 
• Flat Italian parsley or coriander 

Method: 

1. Rinse all the chicken and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel or kitchen tissue paper. 
2. Leave to dry further while you mix the marinade. 
3. Mix the marinade ingredients to your liking. 
4. Put the chicken into a flat oven bowl with a large bottom and pour in the marinade sauce. Ensure the chicken is well-coated (save some sauce for later).  
5. Leave chicken in the fridge to marinade while you prepare the veggies. 
6. Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them each into four even-sized pieces. 
7. Bring a pot of water, salt and the potatoes to the boil and cook on high until the potatoes are par boiled (partially or semi boiled). It should take about 8 to 9 minutes to get them parboiled. 
8. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C. 
9. Using a big enough roasting pan, add the butter and oil and place into the prepared oven to heat. 
10. Drain and shake the potatoes quickly while in the colander. When you drain the potatoes, hold the colander with both hands and give it a few gentle shakes to fluff up the potato edges, this gives them nice crusty edges.  
11.  Using a pair of tongs, place them into the hot oven tray when the butter and oil are hot and shimmering. Gently turn them over once to make sure both sides are covered in the oil. 
12.  Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, taking them out in the last 10 minutes or so to turn them over. That’s it! 
13.  Meanwhile layer another roasting dish with baking paper. 
14. Remove the chicken from the fridge, place it comfortably in the dish and bake on 180°C for about 40 minutes. Remove the chicken at least twice to keep basting with the remaining marinade. 
15.  Peel the corn and cut each one with a sharp knife into 3 parts. Coat the corn with 2 tablespoons melted butter (if not melted simply spread it onto all the corn). 
16. Layer a large baking pan with some foil, add the corn cobs, sprinkle salt and pepper. 
17.  In the same pan on the other side, open the packet of bought prepacked butternut. Add the cinnamon and brown sugar. 
18.  Place the tray into the oven and bake and bake at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes. 
19. While the food roasts, rinse the carrots and place into a skillet with fresh lemon slices, juice, fresh rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil. 
20.  Either roast or stove top, medium to high heat, turn over once, cook for 15 minutes either way. 

Serving options:  

1. Add the chicken, corn, butternut, carrots and potatoes on a serving dish. Garnish with fresh herbs and the roasted lemon. Enjoy! 

Note from Miranda: 

• I cannot stipulate in grams or any other measurement how many cobs of corn you should use, or how many carrots, etc. so please use my quantities as a guideline and for the rest, be creative and enjoy the recipe! 
• READ: Anosmic home cook tastes her way in the kitchen