Maple roast chicken with orange mash
A firm crowd pleaser: this bronzed, sweet and sticky chicken is perfect for a summery, Sunday lunch. The sweet potato and carrot mash is lighter than roast potatoes, dripping in fat, and can be cooked in the same roasting tray, at the same time, as the meat.
Serves 5
Ingredients
1 large, free-range chicken (remove from the fridge 30mins before preparing) Butter, at room temperature Large handful lemon thyme 1 white onion 1 lemon 8 sweet potatoes 8 carrots 3 garlic cloves Maple syrup Seasoning
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.
Peel and dice your sweet potatoes and carrots into equal, 2cm chunks. Toss in a large roasting tray with a glug of olive oil and season generously. Finally, dot with cloves before putting a non-stick rack over the top.
Place the chicken on the rack and rub, all over, with butter. Scatter with the lemon thyme, allowing some to drop down onto the vegetables below.
Next, quarter the onion and lemon and stuff, in an alternating sequence, into the chicken's cavity.
Finish by coating the chicken in a generous amount of maple syrup and seasoning before transferring to the hot oven. After 20 minutes, turn the heat down to 180 degrees and continue to cook for a further 1 hour 10 minutes or until the juices run clear.
When you are happy that the meat has cooked through, remove everything from the oven and separate the chicken and vegetables. Firstly, leave your chicken to sit on a carving board covered in layers of tin foil and a tea towel. Then tip your vegetables into a magi mix, or other blender, and pulse until smooth. Return to the oven – albeit at a much lower heat, around 60-70 degrees – in a heat-proof serving dish. At this stage, you can also put plates in to warm.
Use the empty roasting tray, and any juices from the chicken, to make a gravy and serve with minted peas.
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