Sunday Roast Chicken with Crispy Potatoes & Gravy

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 2.2 kg), patted dry
• 75 g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 lemon, halved
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1.2 kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 500 ml hot chicken stock
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 300 g green beans, trimmed
• Steamed seasonal greens, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Pat the chicken thoroughly dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means flabby skin instead of crackling. Loosen the skin over the breast with your fingers and push half the butter underneath, then smear the rest over the outside.
2. Tuck the lemon halves and crushed garlic into the cavity with the rosemary sprigs. The garlic stays in the cavity where it perfumes the bird gently as it roasts — don't scatter it loose in the tin or it will burn black and turn bitter long before the chicken is done. Season the skin generously inside and out with the 1 tsp sea salt and a good crack of pepper.
3. Sit the chicken on a rack over a roasting tin and roast for 30 minutes at 200°C to set the skin, then drop the oven to 180°C and roast for a further 70–80 minutes. You're looking for 75°C in the thickest part of the thigh, juices running clear, and skin the colour of polished mahogany.
4. While the chicken roasts, peel and chunk the potatoes and drop them into a pan of well-salted water — this is your only chance to season the potato itself. Parboil for 8–10 minutes until the edges are collapsing and a knife slides in with no 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. Heat the vegetable oil on a sturdy tray in the oven until shimmering, then add the potatoes in a single layer with space between each one — crowd the tray and they steam instead of crisping. Season with the ½ tsp sea salt and roast for 45–50 minutes, turning once at the halfway mark, until deeply golden and crunchy.
6. Lift the chicken to a board, cover loosely with foil and rest for a full 15 minutes. Skip the rest and the juices flood the board instead of the meat.
7. For 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 — that fond is the whole flavour of the gravy. 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 the black pepper and taste — adjust the salt now, at the stove, not at the table. Strain if you want it silky.
8. 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.