Milk-Roasted Chicken

This Milk-Roasted Chicken is made with the deliciously odd combination of lemon and milk which creates the most tender chicken and a divine sauce. Add mushrooms and baby new potatoes for a one-pot meal.

I first started making a version of this chicken after watching Jamie Oliver’s show Oliver’s Twist way back in 2002. The episode was called Big Grub for Big Boys and Jamie was cooking for his local rugby team. 

The original calls for sage instead of tarragon and fewer cloves of garlic, and no mushrooms or baby new potatoes so you could make this without them but I do love a one-pot dinner. 

Milk-Roasted Chicken

This recipe, as mentioned above, is adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s. It can also be found in his cookbook, Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Below I have given the amounts of mushrooms and potatoes I used this time. Know that if you want to add more or less of either, it’s all still good. Can’t find fresh tarragon? Use your favorite fresh herb. Thyme or even rosemary would be delicious.

 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (about 3 lbs or 1.5 kg)  

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

4 oz or 113g butter 

1 cinnamon stick 

2 big sprigs fresh tarragon 

1 lemon

8 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 

2 1/4 cups or 540ml milk

5 1/2 oz or 156g baby button mushrooms

1 lb or 450g baby new potatoes

Method

Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Cross the chicken’s legs and secure them together with string or silicone bands. 

Season the chicken generously all over with salt and pepper, and fry it in the butter, turning the chicken to get an even color all over, until golden. 

Start breast down and don’t try to turn it until you can move it slightly, about 7-8 minutes. If you try to turn it too soon, before it’s lovely and brown, the skin will stick to the bottom of the pot.

Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate. 

Jamie says at this point, “throw away the butter left in the pot which will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan, which will give you a lovely caramel flavor later on.” I must confess, I just couldn’t do it. 

Throwing away butter goes against my very ethos regarding cooking. Have you ever seen a French chef throw out butter? Oh, hell, no. They add more! 

Strip the leaves off the tarragon and set aside a small pile for garnish later. Use a potato peeler to remove the lemon zest thinly in big pieces. Peel the garlic and hit the cloves with the side of a knife to crush them slightly. 

Juice your lemon, but leave a little bit in one rind for squeezing over the cooked chicken.

 

Add the cinnamon stick, bigger pile of tarragon, lemon zest and garlic to the pot. Give it all a quick stir. 

Put the chicken on top, breast side up and pour the milk and lemon juice around the sides. 

Add in the cleaned mushrooms.

Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Baste with the cooking juice from time to time. 

Add in the new potatoes and roast for a further 45 minutes. 

To serve, squeeze the last of the lemon juice over the chicken and sprinkle on the reserved tarragon.

If you serve from a platter instead of the pot, make sure to include the juices from the pan in a gravy boat on the side!

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 13th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter M. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the M recipes below:

• Food Lust People Love: Milk Roasted Chicken with New Potatoes and Mushrooms
• Blogghetti: Movie Night Charcuterie Board 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Mango Bread Pastry - No Bake Dessert 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Mocha Milkshake 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Maple Pecan Madeleines 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Steak and Mushroom Bites 
• A Messy Kitchen: Mini Lemon Cupcakes with Marionberry Frosting (Doctored Cake Mix)
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Moong Dal Salad | Kosambari
• Magical Ingredients: Mint Mascarpone Dip 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Pineapple Ketchup Ground Turkey Skillet Meatballs 
• Culinary Cam: Mini Peach Galettes

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken – this post! 

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Marmite Butter Mashed Potatoes

These Marmite Butter Mashed Potatoes are a delightful savory dream on a spoon, made with yeast extract, butter, cream and milk. They are the perfect accompaniment to grilled steak or roast chicken. 

Marmite is admittedly a very divisive ingredient. It’s super salty and many people find its yeasty flavor too strong for their tastebuds. I like to think that maybe the naysayers just haven’t tried it spread very, very thinly on well-buttered toast. That was the gateway for me. The Marmite merges with the butter in a lovely way and each bite is a savory treat.

Over the years, I have increased the thickness with which I spread Marmite on toast and I’ve added it into many dishes to increase the umami factor. It is excellent in Bolognese sauce, for instance, or simply stirred through hot buttered pasta. It’s been one of my husband’s favorite things since childhood and I am grateful to him for introducing me to it.

Marmite Butter Mashed Potatoes

Marmite is a yeast extract, manufactured in the United Kingdom. It comes in a glass jar and is very thick and very dark. Some US supermarkets carry it in the international aisle but it can also be purchased online. 

Ingredients

For the Marmite butter: 

3 1/2 oz or 100g unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons Marmite 

Pinch flakey sea salt

For the mashed potatoes:

1 lb 5 oz or 600g potatoes

3 teaspoons fine sea salt

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1/4 cup or 60ml whipping cream

Method

Mash the butter with the Marmite until completely combined. 

Add in the pinch of flakey sea salt and mix again to combine.

Wrap the Marmite butter up in a roll in a piece of cling film. Chill until needed. 

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. 

Add the chunks immediately to a pot full of cold water so they don’t brown as you get the rest peeled and cut. 

Rinse the potatoes in fresh cold water and fill the pot again so that the potatoes are covered and stir in the salt. 

Bring the water to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 10-12 mins until cooked through. Drain the potatoes in a colander.

Tip the milk and cream into the pan and heat them until they are warm. 

Add the potatoes back to the pot and mash with a potato masher.

Then mash in half the Marmite butter.

Stir well until the Marmite butter is thoroughly mixed in.

Serve the mashed potatoes with the remaining Marmite butter on the side, in case anyone would like to add a little more.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and since it’s Father’s Day in many countries around the world, today we are sharing recipes for Dad’s Favorites. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the link list below. 

• Fried Perch by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Marmite Butter Mashed Potatoes by Food Lust People Love
• Milk Chocolate Mug Cake - Microwave by Sneha's Recipe
• Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Roasted Yukon Gold Potato Wedges by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Somehow We Have Landed on Korean for Fathers' Day: Bo Ssäm Recreated by Culinary Cam

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes

Also known as dangela, these Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes are made with dhokla flour: a mix of rice, chickpeas, pigeon peas and lentils. The fermented yogurt batter is traditionally cooked on a tawa or griddle.

I first read about these wonderful savory pancakes on my friend Mayuri’s blog, Mayuri’s Jikoni. I had never heard of dhokla flour but I am often looking for ways to up our protein intake and a flour containing legumes sounded like an easy, tasty way of doing that. 

Fortunately, my favorite Indian market in Houston, Subhlaxmi Grocers, carries it! There are a lot of recipes online that start from scratch, grinding the various ingredients to make the flour first so, if you are so inclined, you can certainly make it yourself. Mayuri says the ratio to use is 2 parts rice, 1 part split chickpea (chana dal) and 1/4 part urad dal (split black gram aka white lentils.)

Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes

The batter requires time to ferment so start this recipe in the morning to make the pancakes in the afternoon or evening. Or start in the evening and leave it to ferment overnight. The weight of the vegetables given below is what I used. You can add more or less, according to your taste. You can find the original recipe with Mayuri’s notes here. If you can't find ajwain seeds, Google offers this advice: Ajwain seeds have a distinctive flavor that is similar to thyme and cumin. When a substitute is needed, thyme, caraway seeds, or a combination of cumin and oregano can be used. 

Ingredients  

For fermenting the batter:

1 cup or 220g dhokla flour

1/4 cup or 60ml warm water

1/4 cup or 61g plain yogurt

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

For adding to the fermented batter:

1 medium (about 5 0z or 142g) zucchini

1 medium (about 2 1/2 oz or 71g) carrot

2 good handfuls (about 1 2/3 oz or 47g) fresh baby leaf spinach

1/4 medium onion

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon ajwain seeds

1/4 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne

1 small knob ginger, grated on a microplane

2 small green chili peppers, finely minced

For the tarka, to further season the batter:

1 tablespoon oil

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

generous pinch asafetida

1- 2 tablespoons water, for rinsing the tarka pan

For cooking the savory pancakes aka dangela:

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Canola or other light oil

3-4 teaspoons sesame seeds for topping

Method

Measure the flour into a large bowl that will fit the rest of your batter ingredients later. Add the warm water, yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds to the flour.

Mix well. Cover the bowl and put it in a warm place for 8 hours or overnight.

If the weather is warm, the bowl can be kept on the kitchen countertop. If the weather is cold, put the bowl in your oven (with a pilot light, if it’s gas) or turn just the light bulb on. 

During the fermentation time, finely grate your zucchini and carrot. Leave both to drain on paper towels to get rid of some of the excess liquid. 

Pinch the stems off of the spinach leaves and discard.

 

Chop the leaves.

Then mince the onion.

When the fermentation time is up, add grated carrot, grated zucchini, chopped onion and spinach to the batter. Mix thoroughly.

Add the salt, sugar, turmeric powder, garam masala and cayenne pepper. Mix again to combine.

Grate the ginger and mince the green chili peppers. 

Add them to the batter. Rub the ajwain between your palms and add it to the batter. Mix the batter well.

If it appears a bit dry then add normal tap water, little at a time. I found that the more I stirred, the wetter it got, no doubt courtesy of the chopped spinach, so I didn't add any water. You want a batter thick enough to be spooned into a pan but one that will spread out a little of its own accord, perhaps with a little help from your spoon.

Finally, we’ll make the tarka to finish seasoning the batter by lightly frying the tarka ingredients in a little oil. Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a small pan over low to medium heat. Add the fenugreek seeds. When they begin to sizzle add the mustard and cumin seeds.

Add the pinch of asafetida. 

Give the tarka a quick stir then immediately pour it into the batter.

Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the hot pan. Give it a swirl and add the water to the batter. Stir well.

I almost missed this step! When you are ready to make the dangela, add the baking powder to the batter and give it another good stir. Now you are ready to cook! 

This will make four nice thick pancakes so I eyeballed the batter in the bowl and scored the top in an effort to make them come out relatively even. 

Wipe out your tarka frying pan then heat it over medium heat.

Drizzle in some oil. Add about one-quarter of the batter to your pan and give it a little shake and use your spoon to spread it out into an even circle. 

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds over the top of the batter.

Drizzle a little more oil around the pancake.

Leave it to cook for about 3-4 minutes over low heat or until it seems set enough to turn.

Carefully turn it over with a big spatula.

Drizzle a little more oil around the dangela and cook until it is golden on the other side. Put it in a low oven in foil to keep warm while you cook the other three. 

Repeat the process until you have four savory pancakes to enjoy. My husband and I ate the first two as snacks with mint chutney. 

Then the next morning, we enjoyed the last two, warmed, with a fried egg each on top. Lovely snack and lovely breakfast. Highly recommend either way! 

It’s already the second Tuesday of the month – how is it June?! – so that means it’s time for my Bread Bakers to share their recipes for this month’s theme: Indian breads. Many thanks to our host, Renu from Cook with Renu. Check out the links below. 

• Butter Naan from Passion Kneaded
• Cheese and Garlic Naan from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gujarati-style Savory Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Gulachi Sanjyachya Polya with Whole Wheat Flour from Sneha's Recipe
• "Instant" Appam from A Messy Kitchen
• Khamiri Roti from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Litti Chokha from Cook with Renu
• Magical Avocado Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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