The Sunday bird. A whole chicken rubbed with garlic butter, roasted over halved lemons until the skin crackles. Squeeze the hot lemons into the pan juices.
Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking and heat the oven to 220°C.
Mash the butter with the garlic, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Loosen the skin over the breast and push half the butter underneath, then rub the rest all over.
Set the chicken on the lemon halves in a roasting tin and roast for 20 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 190°C and roast for another 50 minutes, basting once, until the juices at the thigh run clear.
Rest the chicken for 15 minutes. Squeeze the roasted lemons into the tin, add the stock, and bubble on the hob to make a quick sauce.
1 h
