HERBS FOR ROAST CHICKEN RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.
  2. Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9.
  3. Wash and roughly chop the vegetables – there’s no need to peel them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.
  4. Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with oil.
  5. Drizzle the chicken with oil and season well with sea salt and black pepper, then rub all over the bird. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
  6. Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour). Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of herbs.
  7. Place the tray in the oven, then turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.
  8. If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.
  9. Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them from burning.
  10. When the chicken is cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tin foil and a tea towel and leave aside while you make your gravy.
  11. To carve your chicken, remove any string and take off the wings (break them up and add to your gravy, along with the veg trivet, for mega flavour). Carefully cut down between the leg and the breast. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.
  12. Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat. Place these on a serving platter.
  13. You should now have a clear space to carve the rest of your chicken. Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other.
  14. When you get down to the fussy bits, just use your fingers to pull all the meat off, and turn the chicken over to get all the tasty, juicy bits from underneath. You should be left with a stripped carcass, and a platter full of lovely meat that you can serve with your piping hot gravy and some delicious roast veg.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven and a roasting tray to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7.
  2. Pick and finely chop the soft herbs, halve the lemon and tear the bay leaves.
  3. Rub inside the chicken cavity with sea salt, then carefully grab the skin at the tip of the chicken breasts, making sure that it doesn't rip, and pull up gently. With your other hand gently separate the skin from the meat of the breast – it's normally connected by a little bit of tissuey-type stuff, and you can either leave this attached in the middle and make two little tunnels either side or you can try to cut away the middle.
  4. Sprinkle a little salt down the gaps that you have made, push in most of the chopped herbs and drizzle in a little oil.
  5. Push the lemon halves into the cavity along with the bay and rosemary sprigs, then pull the skin of the chicken breast forward so that none of the flesh is exposed, tuck the little winglets under, and tie up as firmly as possible.
  6. Rub a little oil all over the chicken skin, scatter over the remaining chopped herbs and season very generously with salt and black pepper. Slash each thigh about 3 or 4 times to allow the heat to penetrate directly.
  7. Remove the hot tray from the oven and drizzle with a little oil. Put the chicken into the tray, breast-side down and leaning to one side, then place in the oven. Roast for 5 minutes, then lean it to the other side, still breast-side down. Cook for another 5 minutes, then place the chicken on its bottom and cook for 1 further hour, or until golden and cooked through – the skin should be really crispy and the herbs will flavour the meat– this really must be the best roast chicken. Trust me – it's not fiddly, it's pukka.