Sunday Roast Chicken with Crispy Potatoes & Gravy

• 1whole chicken, about 2.2 kg, weighed with bone
• 75 gunsalted butter, softened
• 1lemon, halved
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 3sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1.2 kgMaris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 tbspvegetable oil
• 1½ tspsea salt
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 500 mlhot chicken stock
• ½ tspfreshly ground black pepper
• 300 ggreen beans, trimmed
• 1 tspthyme leaves
• 600 gsteamed seasonal greens (optional)

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Pat the chicken thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. Loosen the skin over the breast with your fingers and push half the butter underneath, then smear the rest over the outside.
2. 2Tuck the lemon halves and crushed garlic into the cavity with the rosemary sprigs. Season the skin generously inside and out with the 1 tsp sea salt and a good crack of pepper.
3. 3Sit the chicken on a rack over a roasting tin and roast for 30 minutes at 200°C/180°C fan to set the skin, then drop the oven to 180°C/160°C fan and roast for a further 70–80 minutes. You're looking for 75°C for 30 seconds in the thickest meat of the thigh away from bone, juices running clear, and skin the colour of polished mahogany.
4. 4With about 65 minutes of chicken roasting left, peel and chunk the potatoes and drop them into a pan of well-salted water; season the potato itself. Parboil for 8–10 minutes until the edges are collapsing but the centres still offer a little resistance. Drain in the colander and leave to steam-dry for 2 minutes, then tip back into the dry pan, clamp the lid on and shake firmly to rough up the edges. Those scuffed-up surfaces are what go shatteringly crisp.
5. 5Heat the vegetable oil on a separate tray for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes in a single layer, season with the remaining ½ tsp salt and roast alongside the chicken for its final 45–50 minutes, turning halfway.
6. 6Lift the chicken to a board, cover loosely with foil and rest for a full 15 minutes. Turn the oven up to 220°C/200°C fan and give the potatoes another 15 minutes to crisp while you make the gravy and steam the beans. Skip the rest and the juices flood the board instead of the meat.
7. 7For the gravy, pour off most of the fat from the roasting tin into a jug, leaving about 2 tbsp behind along with all the dark sticky bits. Set the tin over a medium hob, sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1–2 minutes, scraping constantly, until nutty-smelling and the colour of wet sand. Gradually whisk in the hot chicken stock, scraping up every stuck bit, then simmer for 3–4 minutes until glossy and coating the back of a spoon. Squeeze in a small splash of lemon juice from the cavity halves to lift the richness, then season with black pepper. Strain if you want it silky.
8. 8While the chicken rests, steam the green beans for 3–4 minutes until just tender with a little bite. Carve the chicken onto a warm platter, pile the crispy potatoes alongside, lay the green beans across, scatter fresh thyme leaves over everything and finish with a generous crack of black pepper. Pour the hot gravy over at the table.

Per serving

kcal

607

protein

38.9g

fibre

4.9g

carbs

33.4g

fat

36.3g