I’m a big fan of purchasing whole chicken. It is cost-effective, you can use all parts of the chicken and you save on packaging. Free-range is good; organic is better.
Learning how to joint a chicken is cooking preparation 101 and it’s not as difficult as you may image. Jamie Oliver makes it look easy here or Melissa Clark will show you a similar method here.
After jointing the chicken, you may like to poach the skinless breast meat. Leave the bone in if you prefer. I have given you a recipe here. You could use the poached chicken for salads, stir fries, soups or sandwiches. The carcass is perfect to make a stock.
Roasted Chicken Pieces
chicken pieces (legs, wings and thighs)
1 tablespoon soft ghee (you can find the recipe here) or salted butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
a small bunch of garden or lemon thyme
Preheat the oven to 180°. Rub the ghee into the chicken pieces. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and season. Strip some leaves from the thyme sprigs and sprinkle on the chicken, then add some sprigs to the pan. Roast the chicken for 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through. To confirm the chicken is cooked, pierce the skin with a skewer — the juice should run clear.
