Roast chicken

So simple, so utterly delicious. Stick a raw chicken in the oven and a short time later you’ve got a roast chicken! Crispy skin, succulent meat. Best dinner ever.

• 1 whole chicken, around 1.5kg
• 1 onion
• Half a lemon
• 2-3 tbsp/approx 30g salted butter
• Salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C fan (240C)
2. If the chicken is tied up, untie the string or elastic from around it. Put it into a roasting tin that fits snugly
3. Leaving the root end intact, cut the onion in half. Cut one half into half again. Cut the other half into 6 wedges
4. Cut any large pieces of hard fat off the inside edge of the chicken. Then put 2 quarters of onion and the half lemon inside the chicken
5. On each side of the chicken, ease the skin away from the breast at both ends and push butter under the skin
6. Season the chicken well and put into the hot oven
7. After 15 mins, take the chicken out, baste it and turn the oven down to 170C fan (190C)
8. Cook the chicken for a further hour, basting every 15 mins or so. When there’s 30 mins to go, add the onion wedges to the roasting tin
9. When it’s cooked through, take it out of the tin, tip out any juice inside and place on a serving dish. Allow to rest for 10 mins
10. Pour the cooking juices and fat into a small glass. Use the baster to remove the cooking juices from underneath the fat, to make gravy with or just serve with the chicken. Some juice will come off the resting chicken – this can be added too.

Serve with roast potatoes and all the trimmings. Or in a roast chicken sandwich with mustard mayo and rocket. Use the carcass to make stock