Have you ever noticed the resilience of chicken?

I'm not talking about flesh so tough it can withstand a herd of trampling buffaloes, but rather how, no matter what you marinate or cook the chicken with, it always seems to come out tasting like chicken.

So yesterday was mothers day (for my non-UK friends) and of course we had my mum over for dinner. Grabbed a couple of chicken crowns from tesco, pre-marinaded in 1) lemon and sea salt 2) harissa spicing. I used crowns because I'm tired at the moment, and simply didn't want the hassle of spending 30min dismantling a bird, hunting for little scraps at the end of a longish day, plus the 2 different flavourings seemed a bit more interesting. I roasted them along with ordinary par-boiled potatoes, new potatoes with oregano & balsamic vinegar* and carrots with tarragon & honey.

It all tasted pretty good in the end, and if I'd been served that in a restaurant then I'd certainly not have complained, but the chicken tasted just like roast chicken. Maybe the flavourings in the veg and gravy I served it with overcame any subtlety in the meat? Good job roast chicken tastes nice. :-)

*For years I've been using the word spelled vineagar, and when I noticed the red squiggly line underneath, instead of thinking 'dumb American spelling' went off & checked up. Seems I'm not alone in using this version, but the British English dictionaries spell it without the 'a' so it's time to get edumacated.  :p