Apricot-Glazed Roast Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, 1.8kg
• 1 cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 80 ml apricot
• Roast potatoes, to serve
• Fresh thyme, to serve
• Steamed seasonal greens, to serve

Method

1. Combine the cumin, cinnamon and flaky salt in a small bowl. Toast nothing yet — the spices will bloom in the oven against the oiled skin, which is where they wake up and stop tasting dusty. Season the chicken generously inside the cavity with salt and pepper too, not just the outside.
2. Pat the chicken bone dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no crisp skin. Rub the spice mix all over the bird, working it into every crease and pushing it under the breast skin where you can get your fingers in.
3. Cover loosely and leave to marinate for at least an hour at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight for deeper flavour. If chilled, pull the chicken out one to two hours before cooking so it comes up to room temperature — a fridge-cold bird roasts unevenly and dries out at the edges before the thigh is done.
4. Heat the oven to 190°C fan. Set the chicken breast-side up in a roasting tin and rub all over with the olive oil — this is what blooms the spices, carrying their fragrance into the skin as it heats.
5. Roast in the centre of the oven for about 50 minutes, until the skin is deeply burnished and the thickest part of the thigh reads 74°C on a probe thermometer. The juices should run clear, not pink, when you pierce between thigh and body.
6. While the chicken roasts, warm the apricot preserves in a small pan over low heat until loose and pourable, about 1 minute. Taste it — a pinch of salt here lifts the sweetness and stops the glaze tasting one-note jammy.
7. Pull the chicken out and brush generously with the apricot glaze, getting into every fold. Crank the oven up to 220°C and return the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes, glazing again halfway through, until the surface is bubbling, mahogany-dark and just starting to catch at the edges. Watch it from minute 6 — sugar goes from glossy to scorched fast.
8. Rest the chicken, loosely tented with foil, for a full 15 minutes. Cutting early means the juices run onto the board instead of staying in the meat. Taste a scrap of skin and check the seasoning — adjust with another pinch of salt now if it needs it, not at the table.
9. Carve onto a warm platter, scatter the fresh thyme leaves over the sticky skin, finish with a generous crack of black pepper, and bring the roast potatoes and steamed greens alongside.