Roast Chicken

Nigella's roast chicken recipe is almost too simple. She advocates simply buying the best chicken possible and roasting with some butter smeared over it and stuffed with a lemon. I'm afraid that i adulterated this with a Jamie Oliver inspired, herb fantasia and stuffing it into every crevice a chicken can offer. i think this adds a bit more flavour.

- Put a handful of thyme and rosemary in a pestle.

- Mix with olive oil and seasoning.

- Take the mixture and paste half of it between the breast skin and the breast meat.

- Paste the rest of it all over the chicken.

- Add dollops of butter to the skin and inside the chicken.

- Stuff also with a lemon, cut in half, half squeezing the lemon juice into the bird

- Cook for 20 mins per lb (200g) and 20 mins over.

- Baste with the juices every 20 mins.

- With 60 mins to go, add whole shallots and cloves of garlic to the roasting tin

- Remove the chicken and rest upside down, so that the juices gravitate downwards towards the breast meat.

- For the gravy, add white wine to the roasting tin and de-glaze.

I can honestly say, this was a great success. The shallots caramelise along with the garlic and work wonderfully. And as i learnt from Sarah Knott, you can never add too much lemon or butter to a roast chicken. According to Sam the other evening, this could be the "best roast chicken I've ever tasted"!