Christmas Roast Series: Chicken

It's time to get your roasting game seriously sharpened up! This roast chook recipe is quite simple and will really help lift the flavour ratings on Christmas Day. Ingredients: 1 chook for roasting Olive oil Butter, cold and cut into two finger size pieces 4 anchovies, chopped 1 lemon, quartered 2 garlic cloves, crushed Sage, thyme and parsley, chopped roughly 4 Tblspn Verjuice or white wine Salt and pepper Method: Sit your chook on the bench and make a small slit just under the skin at the base of each breast. Place a finger of butter inside the skin. This will help retain moisture inside the breasts as well as make them suitably crunchy. In a bowl, combine the verjuice or white wine (a liberal sploosh), juice of one lemon, anchovies, crushed garlic, fresh herbs and salt and pepper followed by olive oil to help bind into a paste consistency. Lather this all over the bird, followed by an additional seasoning of salt and pepper and the juice from the lemon, which when used can be placed in the cavity of the bird (along with an extra crushed garlic clove if you feel like it..). Place into a roasting tray on a rack, with some water and roast for about an hour at 180C. When cooked, I like to cut up the chicken and re-season when on the serving plate and add a few sprigs of your herb of choice, just to get some freshness there, but it's all optional. A dish like this yearns for a creamy Chardonnay or velvety Riesling. Try the Leconfield 2016 Chardonnay and the Vickery Watervale Riesling on for size!