Chicken in Milk

As you probably know, today is Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek), which means there's only one week of Carnival left. So it's time to have fun, and today you can enjoy a pączek (Polish filled doughnut), an oponka (a tire-shaped doughnut), a donut or a faworek (crispy fried pastry ribbon dusted with powdered sugar).

But I won't bore you today with yet another recipe for a Fat Thursday treat. Today it's all about chicken.

chicken in milk

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I really like Jamie Oliver's recipes. They're often simple and far from boring. Of all my cookbooks, his are the ones I open most often. You can tell by the stains on the pages. Today's recipe also comes from his book "Genial kochen mit Jamie Oliver".

I've made chicken in milk several times already. Combining chicken with milk may seem a bit strange. It did to me at first, too. Actually, it is a bit strange, but it's also a perfect combination, and a simple one on top of that, so you have to try it. Chicken prepared this way turns out perfect and tender, with crispy, nicely browned skin. The sage, garlic and lemon add an amazing aroma, and the lemon zest also makes the milk thicken, turning it into a fantastic sauce.

It's worth using really good quality meat for this dish, because the seasonings used here don't kill the flavor of the chicken, they bring it out. You can serve this chicken whole and carve it at the table, because it looks very appetizing that way. It tastes wonderful drizzled with the sauce created during roasting, and served with leafy greens such as spinach and with mashed potatoes. While we're at it, let me remind you of the alternatives to mashed potatoes that I've shared: potato balls and duchess potatoes.

This chicken, prepared without added fat, is also suitable for those on the Dukan Diet.

chicken in milk

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.5 kg)
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 120 g butter
• olive oil
• ½ cinnamon stick
• a generous handful of fresh sage leaves (I don't recommend substituting dried sage, it's just not the same)
• zest of 2 organic lemons
• 10 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 550 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).

It's best to use a roasting pan that can go both on the stovetop for frying and in the oven for baking.

Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. In the roasting pan, combine the butter with the olive oil and brown the chicken on all sides until it's a nice, appetizing golden color. If fat has rendered out, remove the pan from the heat, take out the chicken and pour off the fat. We won't need it. However, the crust and the browned bits left from frying should stay in the pan. They will contribute to the caramel flavor of the sauce.

Put the chicken back in the roasting pan, add the remaining ingredients from the list (except the butter and olive oil) and roast (uncovered) for about 90 minutes. Baste the chicken with the sauce that forms in the meantime. Serve the roasted, golden brown, fragrant chicken as I described above in the intro.

Enjoy!

chicken in milk