Ingredients
| STUFFING | |
| 1 onion | |
| 1 tablespoon butter | |
| 1 small bunch sage, roughly chopped | |
| 100g breadcrumbs | |
| 1 egg | |
| SPICED BUTTER | |
| 2 large shallots, finely diced | |
| 6 cloves garlic, grated or finely grated | |
| 200g butter | |
| 1 pinch (or 2 if you’re feisty) cayenne pepper | |
| 2 teaspoons smoked paprika | |
| ½ cup red wine vinegar | |
| juice of ½ lemon | |
| 1 teaspoon sea salt | |
| ROAST CHOOK | |
| 1 whole chicken (we use Bostocks, they’re just the best) | |
| stuffing | |
| 2 tablespoons olive oil | |
| 1 sprig rosemary | |
| spiced butter |
Quite possibly the ultimate shared meal. There’s nothing quite like a whole roast chicken, as cooking meat on the bone always creates the best flavour. Everyone has their favourite piece, breast or leg, white or brown meat; always remember though, the cook gets first dibs on the parson’s nose, it’s the law! Reserve the leftover frame for making the best homemade chicken stock.
Instructions
| 1. | STUFFING |
| 2. | Chop the onion and gently cook in the butter until soft and translucent, then leave to cool. |
| 3. | Put all ingredients for the stuffing into a mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside. |
| 4. | SPICED BUTTER |
| 5. | You can make the butter while the chook is roasting. |
| 6. | Put the shallots and garlic in a small heavy-based pan with about 50g of the butter, the cayenne and paprika. |
| 7. | Cook gently on a low heat until the shallots soften and become translucent. |
| 8. | Add the vinegar and reduce it by two thirds. |
| 9. | Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the butter has come to a simmer. |
| 10. | Cool to room temperature. |
| 11. | If you somehow have any butter left it’s great for fried eggs. |
| 12. | ROAST CHOOK |
| 13. | If you have time, the day before you plan to cook rub some salt and pepper all over the chicken and store in the fridge covered loosely with paper towels. |
| 14. | One hour before you plan to start cooking, remove the chicken from the fridge and allow it to come up to room temperature. |
| 15. | Weigh the bird now to calculate the cooking time. |
| 16. | Heat oven to 210°C. |
| 17. | Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the stuffing, leaving a little room between the stuffing and the top of the chicken for air to circulate while cooking. |
| 18. | Rub the olive oil all over the chicken and season with salt and pepper (be generous, but add a little less if you seasoned the day before). |
| 19. | Tie the legs together with the sprig of rosemary – I like to make a small incision under the bone on each leg and thread the sprig through before tying a knot. |
| 20. | Line a roasting dish with baking paper and place the chicken in spine-side down, with the wings tucked under to form a natural trivet. |
| 21. | Roast the chook for 15 minutes at 210°C, then turn the temperature down to 180°C and roast for a further 20 minutes per 500g (for example 1.5kg bird will take 1hr 15 minutes in total). |
| 22. | Once cooked, if you have a probe or meat thermometer, the stuffing and the thickest part of the chicken should be 75°C. Or if you pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer, the juices should run clear. The legs should also feel loose when you wiggle them. |
| 23. | Remove the chicken from the oven and, leaving it in the roasting dish, slather the skin with the spiced butter while the chicken is hot. |
| 24. | Cover loosely with a piece of foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes. |
| 25. | Now you can slice, chop or pull apart the chook however you prefer and dress with the melted butter and pan juices from the bottom of the roasting dish. |
| 26. | Serve with a leafy salad. |
Recipes Asher Boote, Ash Hughes / Photography Amber-Jayne Bain
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