Delicious roast chicken dinner! How good does this look?

Well… How can you go wrong with this! It takes a bit more time but boy is it worth it. It’s a nice thing to cook for someone special on a Sunday and only takes 1hr 30 from start to tucking in. Definitely worth it!

Put the oven on 200 degrees.

Bread sauce (good if you can be bothered and so easy).

Take a couple of slices of white bread (crusts removed otherwise it will look brown and not creamy white) and roughly tear into crumbs into a saucepan. Add a cup of milk, half an onion and a couple of cloves, a bay leaf and salt and pepper. Allow to simmer and then turn off the heat and leave all the lovely flavours to infuse.

Now on to the chicken.  The oven should be full on 180 degrees now. Put the chicken into a small roasting tray and stuff the cavity with half a lemon and half an onion. Rub some olive oil into the skin, some salt and pepper and some thyme. Add a bay leaf or two to the tray and put the chicken into the oven, basting from time to time. 

Time to get on with the veg.  To save some time buy peeled and chopped carrots, and some green veg of your choice.  We’re using fine stemmed broccoli today. Peel the spuds, 3 – 4 medium size should be plenty for two. Cut them in half and put in a saucepan. Boil the kettle and add the boiling water to the potatoes.  You’re going to boil them fast for about 10 minutes. Drain them then put them to steam for a few minutes on a rack, this will help make them nice and crispy when they’re roasted.  Add them to a hot roasting pan with some butter and olive oil, salt and pepper.

Put the carrots in a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes.

I like to take them out with a slatted spoon and use the water to make gravy. Put the carrots in an oven proof bowl and add salt pepper and a knob of butter. You can pop this in the oven to reheat about 5 minutes before you serve everything up.I use the same water for the broccoli, throw it in and boil for a couple of minutes.  Again use a slatted spoon and add a knob of butter.  Put the broccoli in an oven proof dish or alongside the carrots.

When the chicken has roasted for about an hour and a half (it should be golden and gorgeous), take it out of the roasting pan, skim off any fat and add the water from the vegetables to the juices in the pan, scraping off any gooey chickeny bits.  Add a teaspoon of bouillon and salt and pepper to taste. Put that back in the saucepan and give it a good whisk and add to your gravy boat (if you’ve got one).

Get the bread sauce back on a gentle simmer adding a little more milk if necessary and a knob of butter. Take out the bay leaf, onion and cloves, give it a good beat with a wooden spoon to smooth it. Now you’re ready to go!