Roast chicken salad with piccalilli mayonnaise

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Put the chicken in a small roasting tin. Crush the coriander seeds and chilli flakes in a pestle and mortar. Finely grate in the zest of one lemon and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix in the olive oil, then spoon the mixture over the chicken and rub it into the skin. Halve the grated lemon and pop it into the chicken’s cavity. Roast the chicken for 1 hour 10 minutes or until the juices run clear when a skewer is pushed into the thickest part of the bird (or a digital probe thermometer reads 70°C at the same place). Spoon the juices/fat from the tin over the bird once or twice while it cooks.
2. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into 3cm chunks and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender and cooked through. Drain and leave to steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes. Mix the piccalilli and mayonnaise in a large mixing bowl, then stir in the warm potatoes. Roughly chop the coriander, finely slice the onions and add them both to the bowl. Stir in the juice of the remaining lemon.
3. When the chicken is ready, let it rest for 10 minutes, then shred the meat straight off the carcass, legs and wings into the juices in the roasting tin (the crispy skin can be a cook’s perk). Loosely stir the spinach into the potatoes, then spoon onto a serving platter. Top with the shredded chicken, snip over the salad cress and serve straightaway.
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