Rustic oven-roasted chicken with herbs

Most of us are drawn to oven recipes — easy to prepare and impressive. Miriam, author of El Invitado de Invierno, brings us today one that will undoubtedly please everyone. Super-flavorful with minimal fuss, you can’t miss it.

I’m a big fan of chicken almost any way, it’s a meat that works for anything, right? And I especially like chicken recipes like this one, very simple and baked in the oven, because you put everything in a baking dish and almost completely forget about it until the chicken is ready. If you plan so the roast finishes just in time for lunch you’ll have a great dish with minimal effort.

I recommend buying a good free-range chicken, which not only has more flavor but is fattier than more industrially raised ones. You’ll see this recipe doesn’t add any extra fat, but if the chicken is quality you won’t miss it, because all the fat the chicken releases during such a long roast goes into the sauce and the result is perfect for dipping, quite literally, in the sauce.

And another tip: be careful with the wine you use because given the few ingredients in this simple recipe it greatly contributes to the flavor. The wine doesn’t need to be very good, but there are very decent white wines at a modest price. By this I mean don’t use Tetra Brik wine, let’s not skimp that much, because it shows in the final result.

Ingredients

1 ¼ kg of chicken in pieces (or thighs, drumsticks, etc.)

400 ml of white wine

1 good splash of vinegar (andI used sherry vinegar)

Salt

Herbs to taste for sprinkling (I like to use thyme and rosemary)

Preparation

I like to make this chicken at a low temperature. Put all the pieces of chicken, well cleaned and salted, in a large oven dish (I used the Le Creuset nonstick oven tray). Sprinkle the herbs to taste. Pour the white wine over the chicken, add the splash of vinegar and add a little more salt to the bottom of the dish.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and put the chicken in an oven preheated to 130° (with fan) / 150° (without fan) for two and a half hours. Yes, it seems like a long time and it is, but this way the chicken cooks slowly and becomes very tender.

After that time remove the aluminum foil and raise the oven temperature to 170° (with fan) / 190° (without fan) so the chicken browns and the skin becomes crispy. Roast for another hour in total, turning the pieces halfway through so they cook evenly.

When the chicken is nicely browned take it out of the oven and cover it again with the aluminum foil; let it rest about 10 minutes before serving — sages say this helps the outer layers of the meat rehydrate after drying from the oven’s heat. Enjoy your meal.