Roast Chicken with Peppers and Feta
A Mediterranean roast chicken with chickpeas, peppers, courgettes and salty Greek cheese — perfect for a casual summer lunch.
Ingredients
- 1 garlic bulb, separated into cloves, 3 crushed, remainder left whole
- 2 tablespoons of chopped oregano
- 2 lemons, juice of 1, the other cut into wedges
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 whole chicken (about 1.6kg)
- 3 large red peppers, deseeded and cut into large chunks
- 3 small red onions, cut into wedges
- 4 large courgettes, cut into thick wedges
- 3 tablespoons of chopped mint, plus a few sprigs to serve
- 200g of feta cheese, crumbled into chunks
- 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
- crusty bread, to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Mix the crushed garlic and oregano with the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of the oil to make a dressing. Season.
- Make a few slashes in each chicken leg, then put the chicken in a large roasting tin and rub with 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Stuff the squeezed lemon shells inside the body cavity. Roast for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, tip the peppers, onions, whole garlic cloves and courgettes into a large bowl, and toss with the remaining oil and some seasoning. After 30 minutes, pile the vegetables around the chicken, drizzle with half the remaining dressing and roast for 1 hour.
- Remove the chicken from the oven, lift onto a platter, cover with foil and leave to rest. Check the roasting tin, and if the chicken has rendered a lot of fat, pour it off, skim and return the juices to the tin.
- Stir the lemon wedges, mint, feta, chickpeas and remaining dressing through the vegetables and juices, then return to the oven for 10 minutes to warm through.
- Pile the vegetables around the chicken, scatter with mint sprigs and serve with bread, if you like, to mop up the juices.