Categories: July

Ingredients

• 1 small but plump chicken, weighing about 1.5-2kg
• 100g soft butter
• generous handfuls of fresh English herbs (thyme, marjoram, chives, parsley), roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 glass white wine

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 220˚C/fan 200˚C/gas 7. Take off any elastic or string trussings from the chicken, place the bird in a roasting tin and spread its legs out from the body. Enlarge the opening of the cavity with your fingers, so hot air can circulate inside the bird. It will cook quick like this.

2. Put the butter in a bowl, add the roughly chopped herbs and the garlic, then season well with salt and pepper. Mix everything together with your fingers, and then smear all over the chicken, both inside and out.

3. Place in the centre of the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Then baste the chicken, turn the oven down to 180˚C/fan 160˚C/gas 4, and pour the wine into the tin (not over the bird) and roast for 30-40 minutes, depending on its size. Open the oven door, turn the oven off and leave the bird for 15-20 minutes. This is usually enough time to roast a small chicken through without burning the skin.

4. Forget about making gravy. Carve the bird in the tin, as coarsely and crudely as you like, letting the pieces fall into the buttery pan juices and letting the fresh juices from carving mingkle with the rest. Then take the tin to the table and pass it round so everyone can help themselves.

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