RECIPE INSPIRATION
Want a change from turkey? Four leading chefs serve up something different for the Christmas dinner table
SERVES 4
HANDS-ON TIME 40 mins
TOTAL TIME 2 hrs 10 mins, plus resting
SALT-BAKED CHICKEN WITH CITRUS AND LAVENDER
‘Like most chefs, I tend to shake things up from the norm when it comes to Christmas, and I get more opportunity than most, as we have two Christmas dinners in our family! My wife is Swedish, so we have both a Swedish and British celebration. This recipe is a great way to please both sides of the family: it satisfies that Scandinavian love for sweet and salty but also delivers for us Brits, who love to carve a bird at the table. The salt bake is a great way of keeping the chicken nice and moist.’
◆ a whole free-range chicken, about 1.5kg
◆ 2 lemons
◆ 2 oranges
◆ 8 whole cloves, bashed, plus 8 extra
◆ 1 tbsp edible dried lavender*, plus 2 stalks (optional)
◆ 250g fine sea salt
◆ 700g plain flour, plus extra to dust
◆ 2 medium egg whites, lightly beaten
◆ ½ tbsp vegetable oil
◆ 2 echalion shallots, chopped
◆ 125ml white wine
◆ 750ml chicken stock
◆ 3 lavender stalks (optional)
◆ 80ml apple cider vinegar
◆ 100ml elderflower cordial
◆ 80g unsalted butter, diced
◆ 1 tsp edible dried lavender*
1 Cut off the chicken wings and reserve for the sauce. Use a zesting parer to remove strips of zest from one lemon and about half of one orange and reserve for the sauce. Finely grate the rest of the zest into a large bowl and mix with the bashed cloves and dried lavender, the salt and flour. Squeeze the juice from the lemons and add to the bowl with the beaten egg whites and about 450ml cold water to give a firm but pliable dough. Wrap and leave to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2 Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Halve one of the oranges and stuff inside the chicken with the 8 whole cloves and the lavender stalks (if using). Roll out a third of the dough to about 1cm thick, place in a roasting tin and sit the chicken on top, then brush the dough edges with water. Roll out the rest of the dough as before and drape over the chicken, pressing the edges together to make a sealed parcel. If you’re planning to bring the chicken to the table in its crust, you can make some decorations from any trimmings. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
3 Meanwhile, start the sauce by browning the chicken wings in the oil in a frying pan until golden. Add the shallots and cook for about 2 minutes then pour in the white wine and reduce
