SPICY CHICKEN FINGERS RECIPE RECIPES

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.

Ingredients out • Kettle boiled • Large frying pan, high heat • Medium frying pan, medium heat • Liquidizer

START COOKING

In a bowl, fully submerge the noodles in boiling water • On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with salt, pepper and the five-spice • Fold over the paper, then bash and flatten the chicken to 1.5cm thick with a rolling pin • Put into the large frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, turning after 3 or 4 minutes, until nicely charred and cooked through • Drain the noodles and toss with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil on a big serving platter • Put ¼ of the noodles into the medium frying pan, tossing regularly until nice and crunchy.

Remove the watermelon skin, cut the flesh into erratic chunks and add to the platter • Trim the lettuces and cut into small wedges, halve the radishes, finely slice the top leafy half of the mint and most of the top leafy half of the coriander, and scatter over the platter • Put the coriander stalks into the liquidizer with the soy and fish sauces, chilli, peeled ginger, trimmed spring onions, a splash of water, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and the lime juice • Squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher, then whiz until smooth.

Drain away any excess fat from the chicken pan, put back on the heat, drizzle with the sweet chilli sauce and toss with the sesame seeds • Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently with clean fingers until well coated, then break over the crispy noodles • Transfer the chicken to a board and serve with an extra sprinkling of coriander leaves.

694 calories per serving.

Taken from Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals eBook, published by Michael Joseph. Recipe © Jamie Oliver 2012. Photos © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited 2012, by David Loftus.