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Roast chicken dinner with thyme and mustard mash and festive Brussels sprouts

Roast chicken dinner with thyme and mustard mash and festive Brussels sprouts

  • Serves 4

  • Preparation time:

  • Cooking time:

Ingredients

1 large free range chicken
1 lemon
1 orange
1 bulb garlic
2 carrots
2 medium white onions
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch rosemary

Festive sprouts:
700g of sprouts
1 small red onion
1 garlic clove
Small knob of butter
200g pancetta or bacon lardons
1 pomegranate

Gravy:
500ml chicken stock
2 tbs plain flour
1 tbs tomato puree

Mash potato:
1 kg russet or spunta (any starchy or floury potato will do)
2 tbs whole grain mustard
1/2 bunch fresh thyme

Method

Roast chicken:
1. Pre heat your oven to 200’c. Take the chicken out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking to bring it up to room temperature.
2. Roughly chop the carrots lengthways and the onions and garlic bulb in half and place into a deep oven tray. Add a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme and season with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Sit the chicken on top of the veg.
3. Cut the lemon and orange into quarters and stuff into the cavity of the chicken along with a few bunches of rosemary and thyme. Leave a few sprigs of thyme to one side for the mash potato.
4. Drizzle a good glug of olive oil over the skin of the chicken and season well with sea salt and cracked pepper. Rub the seasoning into the skin with your hands.
5. Roast the chicken in the oven for 1hr and 25 -1 hr 35 minutes, or 25 minutes per 500g of bird. Baste 2-3 times by spooning the juices released from the chicken over the skin throughout the cook. Ensure the chicken juices run clear before removing from the oven.
6. Once cooked cover with tin foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Mash potato:
1. Wash and peel the potatoes and cut into 1/4s. Place in a large pan and cover with cold water and add a good pinch of salt. Place a lid on the pan and boil for 20 minutes. Stick a sharp knife into the potato and if it goes through easily the spuds are cooked.
2. Drain and leave in the pan. Ensure all the water has been removed from the pan then start mashing with a potato masher. Once you are happy with the consistency adjust the seasoning and fold in a knob of butter, some finely chopped fresh thyme and wholegrain mustard then mix well. Place some cling film over the top of the mash and leave to one side.

Gravy:
1. Remove the chicken from the tray and place into a dish. Pour the juices released from the chicken into a bowl and then skim the fat off the top. Discard the fat but keep the juice.
2. Place the tray onto the stove top and fire up the heat. Scratch the bottom of the tray with a wooden spoon to release the flavour. Chop the onions and squeeze the pulp from the garlic that the chicken has been sitting on and add back into the oven tray. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato puree and keep stirring for a few minutes add a little water if you think it needs it, then go in with the plain flour and stir well for a few minutes.
3. Add one bottle of dry cider, turn up the heat then reduce the liquid by 2/3.
4. Add the chicken stock to the tray, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Pass through a sieve and push a little of the roasted veg through the holes. Skim any excess residue that may have risen to the surface. Adjust the seasoning and remove from the heat.

Brussels sprouts:
1. Trim the stalks off the bottom of the sprouts and remove any brown leaves from the outside. Slice in half and wash well.
2. In a pan fry the chopped pancetta or bacon lardons until crispy. Add the diced onion and garlic and fry until golden brown.
3. Add the sprouts to the pan and give it a good toss. Tip the sprouts into an oven tray, add a little knob of butter and roast at 180’c for 15-20 minutes.
4. Just before you are ready to serve cut a pomegranate in half, turn upside down and bang the skin with the back of a spoon so the seeds fall into a bowl. Scatter the seeds over the top of the festive sprouts and serve.

Notes

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