Give 'em real food

Guest blogger Heidi Shamsuddin is a mum of three and founder of Gourmet Goo Baby Food and Dish Deli Cafe (http://www.blogger.com/www.dish.com.my) which serves up wholesome food for the whole family. (http://dishdeli.blogspot.com/)

To be honest, getting my kids to eat healthy food has never been a problem for me simply because I’ve always cooked for my kids and they’re used to eating natural, real, non-processed food. Ok, maybe veggies are a challenge and salad? Just forget about it. According to my daughter Layla, “I’m not a rabbit and I refuse to eat leaves thank you!” (Such sarcasm in one so young….).

What my kids do love to eat is what I call REAL food; meals which are homemade using ingredients in their true-est form (if there is such a word). So today I decided to make my Lemon Roast Chicken – a family favourite. I prefer to bake things as it’s so much healthier (not to mention cleaner) than frying. All to often people take the easy route and fry food for the kids and the effect is that the kids get addicted and used to the taste of fried foods. You could add extra flavours by marinating or even use breadcrumbs to coat the chicken so that you still get that crispy, crunchy texture.

I kind of accidentally stumbled on this recipe when I went through a lemon phase and bought too many lemons. Johan and Layla love to spoon the gravy from the roast chicken over their rice until it threatens to turn into a soupy concoction and my hubby enjoys it too. In fact, the adults usually add a little chopped birds’ eye chilli for that extra kick! Baby Haris who is not even 2 yet also loves this dish although for some strange reason today he refuses to eat it from his own plate and only wants it from my hubby’s plate!

Another thing about getting kids to eat real food is that the whole family must absolutely eat together at the table at least for 1 meal a day. And don’t bother with different meals for the kids and for the adults – who has the time to make 2 different meals eh? When the kids see us enjoying the same food as them, they are more likely to eat it and to try new things.

So here’s the recipe for my Easy Peasy Lemon Roast Chicken. Feeds 2 adults, 2 hungry kids and 1 baby.

1 Whole Medium Sized Chicken – washed and dried

Garlic- 6 cloves unpeeled and left whole

Lemon zest from 1 lemon

Lemon – 1 cut in half Salt and pepper - 1 teaspoon

Dried Thyme – 1 teaspoon (optional)

Yellow onion – Cut up in rings

Potatoes – 2 medium size, quartered

Carrots – 2 medium size, chopped in chunks

For the Gravy:

Water – 1- 2 cups

Flour – 1 tablespoon

Salt and pepper – to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Rub the chicken (inside and out) with salt, pepper, lemon zest and dried thyme. Cut the lemon in half and rub the lemon all over the chicken. Put the lemon and 3 cloves of garlic inside the chicken. Actually you can use as many garlic cloves as you like – because it’s roasted whole in it’s skin, the garlic cooks down into a beautifully mellow flavour. I can easily eat a mountain of roasted garlic just like that but a word of warning, it is not the most sociable thing to do…

Rub some olive oil all over the chicken and place on a bed of onions in a roasting tray. Season the chopped up potato, carrots and remaining garlic with a bit of salt pepper and olive oil and place around the chicken in the tray.

Put the tray in a preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes at 200 C. After 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 180 C and bake for a further 45 minutes until the chicken is golden brown. There is no need to turn the chicken.

Once cooked, place the chicken on a chopping board and cover with some aluminium foil to rest the bird. This is important because it makes the meat moist. Place the potatoes, carrots and garlic in a serving dish.

To make the gravy place the roasting tin (with the cooked onions) directly on your cooker hob on medium fire and add some water. Use a whisk to scrape up all the juicy chicken-ny bits and add the flour to thicken. Taste for seasoning. I like a smooth gravy so I usually strain the gravy but you can leave as it is if you want. Cut the chicken and serve with the vegetables and gravy with some nice bread or hot fluffy rice.