Garden of Eden roast chicken

SERVES 4

PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 5 MINUTES

If, like me, you have a fig tree that doesn’t yield much fruit, you can still extract maximum benefit from its leaves. They make this easy roast chicken smell incredible while it’s cooking — and they look pretty good too.

3 fig leaves, washed (plus a few extra for serving)

1 whole chicken, butterflied (about 1.2kg), patted dry with paper towels

1 onion, peeled and cut into wedges

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

3 sprigs fresh thyme

4-6 medium fresh figs, halved

1 tsp flaky sea salt

1 tsp brown sugar

Freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

¾ cup dry white wine

1 Heat the oven to 190C. Lay the fig leaves on a shallow-sided roasting dish. Scatter over the onions and garlic and lie the chicken on top. Arrange the figs around the chicken. Rub the chicken all over with the salt, sugar and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle over the oil and pour the wine into the bottom of the dish. Season everything again with salt and pepper.

2 Roast for 45 minutes, then baste well with the juices in the pan. Roast for another 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Serve from the dish or line a clean board or platter with more fresh fig leaves and arrange the chicken and figs on top.