Wednesday 20 August 2014

My Lemony Chicken


Please excuse my grubby looking chicken. It was unplanned. This roast chicken came about due to a failed bake (the one that ended up buried in the compost bin).

I had prepared a lemon syrup for the cake but unfortunately the cake turned out hard, dry and gritty. You might be wondering what cake is that. But let me keep you in suspense because I will reattempt this cake. Success or failure, you will hear my story.

Lemon syrup.
I was disappointed of course, who wouldn't be. What was I going to do with the lemon syrup? Surely I was not going to throw it away because lemons don't come cheap in this part of the world. I had juiced 2 or 3 lemons for the syrup. So I poured the syrup into a container and stashed it into the fridge. 


I had defrosted a small chicken and the next day, I thought why not make a roast chicken using the lemon syrup as marinade. Waste not! I had half a cup of lemon syrup (which tasted fantastic by the way) and to that I added minced garlic and light soya sauce. I had a taste. Wow! Nice! There was no necessity to add anything else and it was best to keep it simple.


I cut the chicken into two halves and let it marinate for only 2 hours (I usually like to marinate overnight but this was a spur of the moment thing). Then I roasted the chicken for 40 minutes, basting every 10-15 minutes. I did burn my chicken a little bit. After the chicken was done roasting, I took it out to rest. I took a spoon and tasted the roasting juices which had turned syrupy. It was good. Very good! Sweet, sour, salty, garlicky and lemony. I was happy that the lemon syrup did not go to waste and I had myself a very tasty roasted chicken. 










Lemony Roasted Chicken
Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :
- 1 whole chicken

To make the marinade, mix together :
- 1/2 cup lemon syrup (recipe below)
- 4 tablespoons light soya sauce
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- some black pepper

To make lemon syrup :
1. In a saucepan mix 1/2 cup lemon juice with 1/2 cup castor sugar and rind from one lemon.
2. Place on the stove over low heat and stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
4. Cool before using.

Note : Alternatively if you don't want to make the lemon syrup. I reckon lemon juice with honey would work just fine. Then you have yourself a honey lemon chicken :)

Method :
1. Marinate chicken with the marinade for 2 hours or more.
2. Place chicken, skin side down on a lined roasting pan and roast at 180C.
3. After 15 minutes, turn the chicken over and baste. Continue to baste every 10-15 minutes until chicken is cooked (mine took 40 minutes).

46 comments:

  1. Morning morning dearie.. Ooohh, then I'll be expecting another lemon cake in your next post? Or lemon cheesecake? Any cake you bake, Phong Hong, sure nice and delicious.. You will makesure it's nice before you post or serve.. Anything that comes from your hands, must be nice! Not polishing your shoes ahh (we don't carpool and you don't pay my salary).. Teehee..
    If I got those lemon juice, I will just add sugar and iced water, and just drink it like that la.. But roast chicken with lemon also nice la.. Our favourite phrase - nothing can go wrong with roast chicken..

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    1. Louiz, you read my mind! Yes, I am planning on a lemon cheescake. Thank you, thank you, for the compliments. Paiseh paiseh. My cakes not good all the time lah. Come to think of it, that lemon syrup would have made a good drink but I didn't want to drink all that sugar. Better to spread it out in the chicken. And yup, nothing can go wrong with roast chicken!

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  2. Yup, we roast chicken marinated with lemon and other stuff quite often. My girl loves it. She loves lemon chicken too.

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    1. Lemons go well with roasted chicken. Can't go wrong with that.

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  3. Ah.. gives me comfort, even such an accomplished baker like you also got your "low" moments XD
    The chicken looks OK what, the roasted drumstick that I get from Nando's look exactly like that.

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    1. I am far from being an accomplished baker! I have had my fair share of baking and cooking disasters.

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  4. ahhh, lemon chicken again, or maybe I shall say chicken with lemon?? haha, whatever it is, must be either you or your partner loves this kind of taste and dish?? :)

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    1. SK, we both love the tangy taste of lemons. It is very appetizing!

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  5. I know people said dont eat the burnt part but i like

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    1. I also like the burnt part. I sapu that part first :)

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  6. Looks good , that should be fried lemon chicken.

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    1. Lemon chicken that is served in Chinese restaurants also sedap. But some do not use real lemons. They use some kind of artificial lemon sauce. Not nice.

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  7. nothing's wrong with the look of the chicken to me.. err, a little hangus looks nicer lah.. or probably because you like to blur part of your photo that's why we didn't see the clearer and more realistic side of the dish?? hahaha!!

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    1. SK, the chicken that you see is the realistic one lah. I like to blur blur and pretend like DSLR photo hee..hee...

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  8. I love it whenever you posted your roast chicken....it always turn out looking so salivating. And now in the early morning Im seeing this delicious chicken.....are you tempting me to make this for tonight?

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    1. Mel, why not? It is so easy this one. Delicious too :)

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  9. Lemons prices have been creeping up . Good thing you made something wonderful out of the remainding juice.

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    1. I was glad that the idea came at a time when I had defrosted the chicken :)

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  10. Your lemony chicken is making me drool... wishing for just a small bite on the thigh! Small bite means at least 2 inches.. can? hahahaha... Really.. no need to eat also can imagine how tasty it is.. lemon can go well with sweets and savory dishes!

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    1. Claire, why just small bite? Have the whole thigh lah, if not very "boh kam guan".

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  11. Hi Phong Hong, your are good with flavours for roasting chicken. This flavour must be as good as the others. Bookmarked.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! This flavour is good as it is sweet, sour and salty. I will repeat this chicken again in future. But probably I will use lemon juice and honey instead.

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  12. Hi Phong Hong,

    Good that you can salvage this syrup to cook this beautiful roast chicken!!! See! I told you... You are the queen of roast chicken.

    Zoe

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    1. Hi Zoe! hah,,hah..Queen of Roast Chicken indeed LOL!

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  13. Hi Phong Hong, I just had a plate of roasted chicken rice for my lunch and now saw your tasty yummy lemony roasted chicken ... saliva drooling ^-^!

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    1. Hi Karen! You can try this one day. Your two big kids might like it :)

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  14. Can I have a piece for lunch? Looks so inviting from my screen, and I have a big screen at the office so everything is big and clear here:D

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    1. Hi Jeannie! Wah, big screen like that see food sure very hungry liao LOL!

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  15. Yummy. I like roast chicken. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Hi Veronica! Roast chicken is so popular.

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  16. The chicken looks juicy, must be good!

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  17. chicken & lemon is always a good combination!

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  18. Hi Phong Hong,
    Your roasted chicken looks really mouth-watering! I love roasted chicken with lemons! I don't mind getting my fingers dirty, yum, yum!
    A clever idea of using the lemon syrup!

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    1. Hi Joyce! Sometimes something that comes up unexpectedly becomes something that is so good! I really love the lemon syrup.

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  19. Fantastic attempt!The chicken looks so tender and juicy.Maybe I will try the recipe in the future!

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    1. Hi Fabiany11! Yes, do try the chicken. It is very good :)

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  20. Oh my!

    That look simply scrumptious!!!

    *drool*

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  21. What a delicious save!!! I love the sound of your marinade!!! Great flavors for chicken, but I'm sorry about the cake disaster. I'm certain the next attempt will be a hit!!! xo

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    1. Hi Lizzy! I sure hope so, fingers crossed!

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  22. The colour of the roasted chicken is beautiful. I can see that it is tasty with little crisps here and there.

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    1. Thanks, TM! I always like the burnt bits :)

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