My kinda roast dinner

Beautiful shot by Emma Croman

Many years ago, in another life, I used to indulge in the Sunday ritual of going for a roast.

When I lived in Surrey there were several nice pubs that did a good roast. But a favourite thing for me and my girlfriends to do was to drive up to Mayfair and get a roast at Guy Ritchies pub The Punch Bowl. 

Now, it’s highly likely that these roasts were often fueled by being hungover after being out partying on Saturday night!  But the ritual and indulgence of eating and/ or cooking something special on the weekend is what I love.

And although somewhere along the line I’ve become the person who cooks the roast as well as eats it - I still have some eating out favourites for a Sunday treat – something I may well  share in a post soon.

But how I eat at home at the weekends has changed. The journey I’ve been on has taught me a lot about how my body reacts to different foods.

I can’t tolerate heavy meals and I struggle to digest too much meat . So, when I have time or the inclination, I make my kinda roast dinner every now and then.

Here’s how…

You’ll need:

• A good whole chicken. ( without giblets preferably) Fosse Meadows are very good. It’s not cheap but it’s not an everyday thing

• A selection of in season root veg – I love carrots, beets + squash

• Maris Piper potatoes (optional)Fosse Meadows

• Kale/swiss chard

• French puy lentils

• Selection of herbs – my go-to is a mix of thyme, tarragon, rosemary + sage

• Capers

• Really good salt + pepper mills I love

• Olive oil, duck fat

• A very sharp kitchen knife

• Kitchen scissors - my favourites are

• Disposable gloves

• A couple of large baking trays

• Foil + parchment

I’m going to say it now…I rarely cook roast potatoes just for us.

I think we all have our way of cooking roasties and I’ll share another time how I cook them for special occasions . But if you want to have some with this then please only use Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes. Peel them and par boil for 8 mins, then roast them as you will.

But I’m going to carry on without them here…

I usually start with the chicken.

Heat the range oven to 175c and then prep the bird.

Take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 15 mins. Then pop it on a clean chopping board, chest down and use the back of your hand to flatten it.

The next bit is pretty disgusting, but easy and rewarding once you’ve done it a few times. Put your hands inside and use your scissors to cut either side of the backbone to take it out. Once you’ve removed it, you can get rid of it and then butterfly the chicken out. 

With clean hands you can now oil the chicken. I like to use a mixture of duck fat or butter and some olive oil and really get all over and under the skin.

Then add your herbs of choice - well chopped and sprinkled all over. A time saver here is to do both steps in one with my herb oil

Finally, season both sides really well with salt +pepper and pop the chicken onto one of your large trays and into the oven and set a timer for 45 mins .

Next, prepare your root veggies.

I love to roast everything together so I just scrub up all the veg and slice it in big pieces to roast.

If you have a herb oil, a salsa verde or even a chilli oil, (current fave is this one... although it’s pretty intense so add with caution!) then mix a 1/4 tsp of this with olive oil and coat your raw veggies in a bowl. Add them to a roasting tray ready to go in the oven.

After the 45-minute timer goes off take the chicken out and flip it with tongs, basting and making sure the juices are evenly spread over the chicken. Pop it back in the oven, then put your veggies on the shelf underneath.

Again, roast for 45 minutes.

This is usually enough time to cook a medium chicken but do test the inside to check it’s cooked fully. There should be no pink, so bigger birds will need more time. You should have a delicious crispy skin too. Once yours is cooked, take it out and wrap it in foil to rest.

Shake the veg around and depending on how caramelised they’re looking you may need to give them another 5-10 mins. I often then add in capers, pumpkin seeds ,lemon wedges or even sourdough breadcrumbs here.

Finally, wash your lentils and pop on a full kettle to boil.

Remove your greens from the stems and wash, then chop into large pieces.

Cook the lentils for around 15 minutes in a small pot of boiling water with some of the juices and herbs from the resting chicken.

This is a good time to turn off the oven, and leave the root veg in there but open the door.

Next, add some water from the kettle and some chicken juice to a saucepan, add the greens, salt and pepper, plus a knob of butter and lightly sauté for a couple of minutes on a high heat. Then turn off and cover.

Now you can carve the chicken. It’s so easy to do, I like to pull off the legs, wings and big chunks of the breast and pop it all on a serving platter or board ready to go.

Then drain off the lentils.

To serve

First add the greens with a spoonful of lentils then some chicken, get your veggies out and arrange on the rest of the plate, before finally drizzling with some chicken juices. 

Easy, delicious and no food coma. This is my kind of Sunday eating.

Make it veggie

Replace the chicken with a whole roasted cauliflower, massaged in lemon, olive oil and lots of herbs.

Or a big chunk of winter squash with paprika and feta.

Fry an egg and serve over the baked veggies.

There are many,many more adaptations.

And since it’s a special occasion. Why not treat yourself to a glass of very good fizz. I recently enjoyed Splash at our lovely local bar. Don’t forget to serve with style, A sample shop purchase of new nom living plates making everything look better

Enjoy x