Roast chicken

A few weeks back Able and Cole sent me one of their free range, organic chickens to try for free in exchange for a review on my blog. For anyone that doesn't know Able and Cole are an organic food deli every company. They are best known for their veg boxes that are delivered to your door each week. They also offer a wide range of other organic food that can also be delivered to you. I was initially concerned about having fresh food delivered (that needs refrigeration) in case no one was in when it was delivered. Veg boxes may be fine left outside for several hours but this is not appropriate for fresh chickens. I needn't of worried though, not only was the delivery before 8am (meaning the chicken was in the fridge before work) but it was delivered in a polystyrene box with plenty of ice packs on top of it to keep it cool. The chicken also comes with the giblets which doesn't often happen in the supermarket. Mine are sat in the freezer waiting for me to find time to make stock.


I thought about cooking it in a different way to the normal simple roast I usually do but then decided it would be best to keep it simple and see if I could taste the difference. I usually buy a supermarket free range chicken (not usually organic though) which costs around £4 per kg. Able and Cole's comes in at £6.76 per kg. I served the chicken with some baby new potatoes and asparagus.


So the big question could we notice the difference? Yes, we both thought the chicken had a stronger taste.

Will I be switching to organic chickens? not at the moment. The cost is the big issue for me. I strongly believe in only buying free range chickens but at the moment my budget won't stretch to organic as well.

Next month I will be reviewing a selection of items from their new summer range. Suggestions on ideas for using taleggio cheese appreciated! (Its not a cheese I know anything about)