TGIFood

AirFryday: My Big Fat Greek Roast Chicken Obsession

13 Sep 2024

Yes, I have a Big Fat Love Affair with essential Greek ingredients. Olive oil, lemon, oregano, garlic. What an intense marriage of fulsome Mediterranean flavour. Let’s bring them into the air fryer.

Roast chicken, you may know by now, is a Big Thing in my family’s life. Dad’s roast chicken. And this job makes it possible (and necessary) for me to cook a roast chicken in many, many ways. And I never have a problem with that.

Bring on all the chickens you can, I’m here to help you find new ways to roast them. I have a slew of favourites. But right up there in my top 10 is a chicken roasted with that marvellous combination of aromatics that you find in a single dish in so many Greek recipes: lemon, oregano, garlic and olive oil. Together, they sing of everything Greek and glorious. Combined, they line up on the dance floor and do a Zorba dance.

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And don’t tread too lightly in those Aegean waters when it comes to the lemon. This needs the zest of not one, but two of those sunny citrus fruits. The zest is infused into olive oil along with dried oregano, fresh garlic, salt and black pepper, before being basted on the chicken as well as inside. The same lemons are then cut in halves or quarters to be squeezed inside the cavity, and then placed inside while it roasts.

Don’t forget to season the inside of the bird with salt and pepper first though. This is an important step in getting the flavour balance of a roast chicken right.

Tony’s air fryer roast chicken, Greek style

(Serves, erm… 4?)

Ingredients

1 medium chicken (or larger if your air fryer has the capacity)

½ cup decent olive oil

2 small lemons, zest and juice

3 Tbsp dried oregano

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely

Salt and black pepper

Method

In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil slightly with the lemon zest, oregano, chopped garlic and salt and black pepper. Don’t let it get too hot. Turn off the heat and let it infuse until it is at room temperature again.

Season the inside of the bird with salt and black pepper. Here’s a tip: if using the standard plastic salt and pepper cellars, keep the lid on when grinding, then shake what’s been ground into the cavity of the bird. (Otherwise you’re trying to hold the bird with one hand and grind with the other, right?)

Pour a third of the cooled baste inside, rolling the bird around so that it coats as much of the cavity walls as possible.

Baste another third on the outside of the bird, and season with salt and black pepper.

Cut the lemons in half and put them in the cavity, after squeezing some of the juice in.

Preheat the air fryer to 200℃. I used the “roast” setting on mine, but use air fry if yours does not have that option.

Cut a large sheet of foil that seems too big for the bird, because it must be tucked firmly underneath to avoid it making contact with the element at the top of the air fryer. Wrap the bird securely in foil.

Roast, breast side down, at 200℃ for 20 minutes.

Turn and roast breast side up for 20 minutes at 200℃ after checking that the foil is still secure.

Remove the foil. Brush skin with the remaining baste.

Put it back in, breast side up, and roast at 180℃ for another 40 to 50 minutes or until the bird is cooked to the bone. That’s 80 to 90 minutes of roasting in all. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer in the thickest part to the bone, then pressing the skin with a fingertip to see if juices run clear. If pink, give it a few minutes more.

If along the way the skin is turning too dark, put the foil back over for the remainder of the cook. DM

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

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