Take one good quality free-range chicken - preferably an organic one. Organic chicken are generally raised to a higher standard than conventional ones. Free range-chicken also have a less stressful lifestyle. Best of all is chicken which is raised in a woodland environment where they can source a lot of their own foods. This makes for an exceptionally delicious and nutritious meat.

Oven baked whole chicken recipe

Remove any giblets from the bird and set them aside for making the gravy.

It is usual these days to avoid washing fowl which have come frrom the butcher or suoermarket. By washing the carcase you are more likely to splash any bacteria around your kitchen. This advice is especially important if you are using a bird which has been reared intensively.

If the bird has any visible signs of dirt, then wipe it with a clean damp cloth before preparing it for cooking.

Place the cleaned chicken in a roasting tray. If you do not have one with a lid, then you will need to use some aluminium foil to help the cooking process. It is now possible to buy recycled tin foil.

Rub the bird all over with a little fat such as butter or olive oil. Sprinkle a little sea salt onto the skin. (You can skip this if you are !)

Oven baked whole chicken:

Vegetables to add flavour

Put the chicken into the middle of a pre-heated oven. The temperature to start should be quite high.

Now prepare some vegetables to help add flavour to the whole baked chicken. Carrots and onions are particularly good but you can use almost any vegetables which are in season. All the vegetables should be washed and peeled, as necessary. Organic veg is likely to give the best flavour and the best nutrition.

Coarsely chop all the vegetables. Prepare enough to fill around the chicken in the roasting pan. If you want you can prepare another tray full of vegetables to go with the chicken. Roasted vegetables are very easy to prepare and you are not needing to use any additional heat, provided that you have got room in the oven.

Set aside the veg once it is ready.

Oven baked whole chicken:

Potatoes for roasting

If you want to serve your whole baked chicken with roast potatoes (who wouldn't?) now is the time to prepare them.

Scrub and peel (optional - many good quality potatoes are rather nice with mostr of the skin left on) the potatoes. Chop them into medium-sized chunks and place them in cold water to avoid rusting.

Now check the chicken

Check the chicken after about half an hour or less to make sure that the skin or legs are not burning or over-cooking. Turn the oven down to a medium heat setting (Gas mark 6). If the oven is one of those beasts that cooks better on one side than the...

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