This recipe comes from William Miller, husband of my great friend Trine. Both of them are very good cooks, as well as being life enhancers, and we two families meet and eat together often. The recipe is largely in William’s own words, with slight additions and amendments from me. I would serve his crushed roast potatoes (see recipe page below) alongside.
SERVES 6
1 x 1.5kg free-range chicken
good olive oil
1 lemon
2-4 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed a bit, or 1 onion, peeled and halved
Maldon sea salt
2 tsp dried tarragon
20g butter
FOR THE GRAVY
1 tbsp plain flour
1 chicken stock cube
about 450ml boiling water (or water from vegetable cooking if you are preparing veg accompaniments)
1-2 tbsp alcohol (red wine, Marsala or sherry are all good)
● Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Remove all the paraphernalia that so often comes with a shop-bought chicken – elastic bands, bags of giblets, etc. Smother the chicken with good olive oil and squeeze a lemon over the whole body, shoving the remains of the lemon inside the cavity along with the semi-crushed garlic cloves. Liberally sprinkle salt over the chicken. This really helps to dry the skin while cooking and makes it wonderfully crisp and tasty: crispy skin is the secret of a great roast chicken! On top of the salt, sprinkle the dried tarragon (it seems to have more flavour than fresh). Place several large knobs of butter along the top of the chicken, which will melt over it as it starts to cook. Add a glass of water to the tin – this helps to stop the juices and fat from burning on the bottom and creates the base juices for the gravy.
● Calculate the cooking time at 20 minutes per 450g, plus 20 minutes. For a 1.5kg chicken this works out to about 1 hour 25 minutes. Put the chicken into the oven and roast for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 and continue to roast for the remaining time, until the skin is really brown and crisp. Don’t take it out if the skin still looks pale as it will probably be raw in the middle. If you are worried about fat spitting over the inside of your oven so it smokes forever after, cover the bird in foil for the first 45 minutes and take it off for the last 30 minutes or so to let the direct heat crisp up the skin.
● Check the chicken is cooked by pushing a skewer into the thigh to see if the juices run clear. If not, continue to roast and check at 5-minute intervals. Lift the chicken with the opening pointing downwards and drain the juices from the inside into the roasting tray. Move the chicken on to a warm serving plate, cover in foil and stand for 10-15 minutes.
● Meanwhile, for the gravy, drain all the juices into a clear heatproof jug, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the tray. Set the jug aside for a while and the liquid will separate into the dark juices and fat. Once this has happened, drain away the fat. Place the roasting tray over a low heat and sprinkle in the flour. Using a spatula or flat-ended wooden spoon, stir the juices into the flour, gently scraping up the fat and residue in the bottom of the tray to mix everything together. (This will also make life a lot easier when you come to wash the tray!) Crumble in the stock cube and stir gently, breaking up any lumps, then slowly add the boiling water and heat, stirring well, to thicken. When it has started to thicken properly, thin a little with alcohol to add flavour. Add the jug of reserved juices and simmer for another 10 minutes to cook off the alcohol and slightly thicken the gravy some more.