POT ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEEKS & WINTER SALSA VERDE

Even though we are in the middle of August, yesterday morning I thought it was deep dark winter…..how bad was all that rain! So Pascal and I decided to have a pyjama day and cook a roast and not leave the house. I have never cooked roast chicken before, to be honest I much prefer lamb or pork, but thought I should try something different. 

Ingredients for 4 people:

2 tbsp olive oil
100g smoked streaky bacon, chopped
1 whole chicken, approx 1.6kg (ours was 1.7kg)
3 sprigs of thyme (I added some dried thyme as well)
2 large leeks, trimmed and very thickly sliced
2 celery sticks, trimmed and very thickly sliced
200ml white wine
200ml chicken stock (I used vegetable as I didn't have chicken)

Winter Salsa Verde:

3 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
A garlic clove, chopped
A handful of celery leaves
A large handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
2.5 tbsp red wine vinegar (we used sherry vinegar as I didn't have red wine vinegar)
2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp sage, finely chopped (I used dry)
120ml extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6.

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large casserole dish with a lid - you need to be able to fit the chicken in this dish. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until it starts to brown. (Don't over cook as they will continue browning when you add the chicken).

Push the bacon to the edges of the pan and then add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown all over. Turn it breast side up to finish. 

Then add the thyme, leeks and celery to the pan along with the wine and chicken stock.

Pop the lid on and roast in the oven for 1.5 hours.

To make the salsa verde, prepare all the ingredients and then blitz together in a food processor. Season to taste.

When the chicken is ready, do check it is cooked through - no one wants food poisoning. We thought ours wasn't but actually it was perfect. I just think we could have browned it a little more.

Finally serve the chicken vegetables and pan juices with spoonfuls of salsa verde.

We served the chicken with stuffed peppers (recipe to follow) which were delicious, although it would also go perfectly with some mash. As I mentioned before roast chicken is not my top choice but this was incredible and I adored the salsa verde….we have so much parsley left over I will be making the sauce again this week with some white fish or even chicken again! A perfect very easy lunch.