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Roast chicken with spring vegetables

A lighter roast chicken recipe, made with vegetables cooked in the buttery pan juices and served with crisp hasselback potatoes.

A lighter roast chicken recipe, made with vegetables cooked in the buttery pan juices and served with crisp hasselback potatoes.

Ingredients

For the herb butter

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Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas 4. To make the herb butter, mix together all the ingredients either with a wooden spoon in a bowl or in a food processor until well combined.
Loosen the skin from the neck end of the chicken, then work the butter under it to cover the breast, taking care not to tear the skin. Season the outside with salt and pepper. Put the onions in the middle of a big roasting tin and sit the chicken on top.
Make widthways cuts, 1-2mm apart, along the potatoes, not cutting all the way through. Put in another roasting tin, rub well with olive oil and sprinkle over salt.

Arrange the leeks, carrots and garlic around the chicken and drizzle with olive oil. Put everything in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, then turn the vegetables over and baste the chicken. Roast for 20-30 minutes more until a digital probe thermometer reads 65°C when pushed into the thickest part of the thigh, or when the juices run clear.
Remove the chicken and veg to a board and keep warm. Add the wine and stock to the tin, put on the hob over a medium heat and scrape up any bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon. Bubble until reduced by half, then taste, season and strain into a jug. Take the potatoes out of the oven and serve with the chicken, roast vegetables and gravy.

Nutrition: per serving

Next time, change the flavours in the butter – tarragon, lemon zest and garlic work well together, or try rosemary and garlic.
Make the herb butter up to 3 days in advance and keep wrapped in cling film in the fridge. Let it soften before using. You can also slice the potatoes and veg up to 24 hours ahead and keep covered in water – but dry well before using.