When simplicity and big, wonderful flavours combine, we want a piece of the action – and this recipe supplies the goods. It’s from the debut cookbook of chef-turned-farmer Julius Roberts, lauded by Nigel Slater and others… That’s Sunday roast sorted!
PHOTOGRAPH ELENA HEATHERWICK
There are recipes I love because they’re interesting, there are those I love for their simplicity, and there are those I find myself making again and again. This is the latter: a great roast chicken, one of life’s great pleasures. I relish the rituals: my family’s fight over the wings, eating the oysters – the chef’s secret treats, the leftover sandwiches and bubbling stocks. There’s no meal that makes me feel more at home.
In my mind, there are three keys to a good roast chicken: juicy meat, brown salty skin and, importantly, a ton of sauce. And it’s the sauce of this chicken recipe that sets it apart: handfuls of tarragon, lashings of cream and a proper dollop of mustard. When combined with the cooking juices, garlic and wine, it creates a truly epic mouthful.
The recipe
Serves 5 Hands-on time 15 min Oven time 50-70 min
• 1 organic chicken
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic bulb
• 250ml double cream
• Bunch (20g) tarragon, leaves
picked and roughly chopped
• 1 heaped tbsp dijon mustard
• Glass (125ml) dry white wine
1 Heat the oven to 220°C fan/gas 9. Spatchcock the chicken by turning it over and cutting along one side of the spine from the tail to the neck. Turn it back over, open out the two sides and press down hard on the breast to flatten it. Your butcher will gladly do this for you.
2 Lay the chicken in a large, high-sided roasting tin, season generously with salt on both sides and leave for an hour at room temperature so it loses the chill of the fridge.
3 When ready, generously drizzle the skin with olive oil and work it into all the nooks and crannies. Smash the garli
