My Test Kitchen: Rachel Khoo's Sticky Lavender Lemon Chicken (Poulet au citron et lavande)

I've been watching Rachel Khoo's cooking show "My Little Paris Kitchen" and I am hooked! I know her kitchen is cute but honestly, I don't think that I'll be able to survive in that kitchen. I love my kitchen space. I can survive having a small living room or bedroom but I must must must have a roomy kitchen to cook and bake in. Her kitchen gadgets are very basic though and she's really smart to invest in durable and practical equipment. Her white enamel mixing bowl reminded me of the one my grandma uses back home in Manila. I remember that it's easy to clean and light to use. I miss it.

On to the roast chicken. I've read a few blogs who have made this but no one seemed to describe the taste well. First off, it's more sweet than savory. If you're not a fan of a savory sweet sour flavor for your chicken, this is not for you. The lavender has just a slight scent to it (think rosemary but less pungent) and don't ever forget to put in the dried thyme (like I almost did!). Overall, it didn't have the grassy taste that I was expecting and it didn't taste like medicine at all. It's just delicate and sweet. It will be good to have this chicken with roast potatoes and steamed vegetables so that the chicken will stand out. I think this will not be able to please a crowd who are not used to sweet main dishes. What I liked about the dish though was the chicken juices. It is ideal to take the juices, cook it down to a syrupy sauce and spoon this over the chicken.

It's a good recipe but not a fantastic one. It is unique though to use a floral scent to flavor a roast chicken but it's not one that I'll make often. But that's just me!

Here's the recipe.



Ingredients

I used 3 chicken marylands - drumstick and thigh separated. Try to get chicken with the skin still on. It will taste better.

For the marinade:
1 tbsp dried lavender
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 cloves crushed garlic
4 tbps olive oil
3 tbsps french lavender honey
zest and juice of 1 lemon
cracked black pepper

Steps:
Prepare the marinade and place this along with the chicken in a large ziplock bag. Marinade overnight.

Take out the chicken 15 minutes before you start cooking. Preheat the oven to 200C. Make sure to use a roasting tray that will fit all your chicken pieces, ideally not too snug so that your chicken will crisp up nicely. Roast for 40-50 minutes or until the chicken juices run clear when a knife is inserted into the thickest part of the chicken thigh.

Rest for 10 minutes before plating up. While the chicken is resting, carefully pour the chicken juices from the roasting pan to a saucepan. Cook this down to half the amount. Spoon over the chicken and steamed vegetables.