Ingredients

• 1x 1.6kg whole chicken – adjust your cooking time for different weights.  The general rule is 20mins per 450g (1lb) plus 10-15mins on top.
• 1 large or 2 medium onions
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 small whole bulb of garlic
• Olive oil
• 1x lemon
• 1 bunch of mixed herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage

Method

• Remove your chicken from the fridge around 30mins before cooking to bring it up to room temperature
• Preheat your oven to 240C/220C Fan/Gas 9
• Wash and roughly chop the onions, carrots and celery – you don’t need to peel any of them
• Break the garlic bulb up into cloves and leave them unpeeled
• Pile all of the vegetables into a baking tray with some of the herbs and drizzle with olive oil
• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub with salt and pepper
• Place the chicken on top of the vegetables
• Prick some holes in the lemon with a sharp knife (this will release the flavour) and place inside the chicken with the rest of the herbs
• Put the tray in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6
• Cook for the allotted time, which is 1hr 20mins for our chicken
• At this point, you can get on with your vegetables such as my perfect roast potatoes and whatever else you fancy.
• Take the chicken out of the oven when it’s done, cover it with foil and a tea towel, and leave it for at least 15mins to rest.
• When you’re ready, carve the chicken and serve 🙂