Classic Roast Chicken

Serves 4

What you’ll need:

• 1 x 1.5kg Organic free-range chicken (but you could also use marylands)
• 50g butter – at room temperature
• A handful of Sage
• A handful of Thyme sprigs
• A handful of Marjoram
• 2 Lemons – bruised to release the juice and cut into quarters
• 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
• 2 cloves of garlic – roughly chopped
• 1 Chorizo Sausage – cut into 1-2cm rounds
• Potatoes (I love King Edwards personally) x 750g
• 2 red onion – peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 carrots – washed well and cut into 2cm chunks
• 1/2 small Butternut Pumpkin  – Peeled and cut into wedges

How to get it done:

1. Preheat the oven to 200’c.

2. Fill the chicken carcass with the herbs, the chopped garlic and lemons (as many as will fit) ensuring one of the lemon pieces is placed in last to hold everything in (like a cork). You can tie the end of the chicken up if you like but I don’t tend to bother.

3. Use about half of the butter to coat the chicken before seasoning with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the middle of a roasting rack in a large roasting dish (to allow all sides to crisp up).

4. Mix the vegetables with the left over butter, crushed garlic and some salt and pepper and place around the chicken.

5. Cook for about 1 hour checking and tossing the vegetables to ensure they cook evenly every 30 minutes or so and basting the top of the chicken with the juices from the pan to ensure it stays moist whilst crisping up.

6. Add the chorizo to the vegetables around the chicken and roast for a further 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked. The chicken is ready when you skewer it and the juice expelled is clear (usually 30 mins for each 500g of chicken) but you can use a meat thermometer if it makes you more comfortable.

7. Remove the herbs and lemons from inside the chicken and mix through the vegetables and then discard the large unpalatable bits.

8. Serve the chicken on a generous scoop of the vegetables and finish with a drizzle of the pan juices.