A slow-roasted chicken is a classic Sunday main, and when it comes to Sunday Roast Chicken, simple is best! No fuss, no mess; just home-style taste and a moist, deliciously seasoned whole chicken.
A roasted chicken was a Sunday staple in our home when I was growing up. You may have read a few of my other recipe posts mentioning the commonality of traditional Newfoundland Sunday dinners, which consisted mostly of what Newfoundlander’s refer to as Cold Plates.
A Cold Plate, like the name suggests, is served cold or at room temperature. To this day, it’s my favourite meal of all time! It varies from home to home, but in our home, my mom always made sure a Cold Plate had three different kinds of potato salad, a coleslaw, a macaroni salad, usually a jelly salad, (which I avoided – ew!) and a whole chicken that had been roasted and set out to cool.
On special occasions, there would also be a stuffing served with the dish, as well as a garden salad, a dinner roll, and a very simple rolled up slice of deli ham with a gherkin pickle attached to it via a toothpick.
I often see some of my Newfoundland-based Facebook friends posting images of Cold Plates for sale. It’s very common in small towns for a few ladies to assemble Cold Plates and sell them to the locals as part of a fundraiser. If only they could deliver 2,000 kilometers, I’d be ordering them by the dozens!
My mom used to prepare the best Cold Plate. I’ll never get to taste her food again, but my dad can also prepare a great Cold Plate. He will usually prepare it once or twice a year, which is the only time I get to have it, because a traditional Newfoundland Cold Plate is not something my vegetarians favour – even without the chicken or ham being present. #sosad!
In an effort to copy my mom’s Sunday Roast Chicken, I made this whole chicken just for me. John.e and McKenna won’t partake, of course, but I didn’t mind a bit! Over the course of two days, I was able to eat the whole thing and I don’t apologize for one bite of it. Ha!
Whether you’re preparing a complete meal with this, or simple slicing it for sandwiches, a Sunday Roast Chicken is bound to be the easiest chicken dish you’ve ever prepare. The steps are simple; the ingredients are common; but, the taste is completely satisfying.
Lastly, if you’re looking for recipes for those Cold Plate items I previously mentioned, you can find them right here:
Sunday Roast Chicken
A slow-roasted chicken is a classic Sunday main, and when it comes to Sunday Roast Chicken, simple is best! No fuss, no mess; just home-style taste and a moist, deliciously seasoned whole chicken.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, washed and patted dry with paper towel
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground sage
- 1 large onion, halved, one half left intact and the other half sliced
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Add the water and the sliced onions to the bottom of a roasting pan.
- Coat the entire chicken with the salt and pepper – top and bottom.
- Sprinkle the sage into the cavity of the chicken and place the half, unsliced onion in there as well.
- Place the chicken, breast side up, on the bed of onions in the roasting pan.
- Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.
- Remove the foil, and return to oven for 1 hour at a reduced temperature of 350 degrees.
- Halfway through, remove the roasting pan from the oven and spoon the water/chicken drippings over the top of the chicken. Basically, moisten the entire chicken surface using a basting method. Return to oven for the remaining 30 minutes.
- Once done, turn off the heat, and allow the chicken to rest in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Slice and serve immediately, or allow to cool to room temperature for using in sandwiches or other chicken dishes.
Notes
This chicken can easily be shredded if you need shredded chicken for another recipe. Also, instead of sage, try traditional Newfoundland Savoury if you can find some – so delicious!
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