Meat market

Anthony Puharich discovers Colin Fassnidge doesn’t stuff around with his famed festive chicken. And the key to its success is as crazy as the clan who gather round the Christmas table to eat it.

Our boys go crazy for chicken bread.

C: Fass’s chicken bread is famous in my book, Four Kitchens.

A: Your cookbook? I heard they were doing ‘buy one, get 10 free’?

C: They make a great doorstop if you buy a few…

A: They sent them to Hawaii when the hurricane hit to use as weights to hold things down, I heard. Anyway, chicken is a good one for Christmas; I like chicken. When do you stick the brick up it? C: Hang on, what? What brick? A: It’s on a brick? C: No, it’s on bread! A: Oh, it’s your accent again. I thought you said brick!

C: We’re going to start with a good sourdough. You slice it lengthways and use the bottom half. Spread over some butter, then you top it with thinly sliced potatoes – obviously. A: Obviously. C: Drizzle that with oil, then for Christmas, we make our stuffing. But instead of stuffing the chicken, I make this sausage stuffing with sage and prunes, which we spread over the bread. A: What about the prunes? C: They’re in the stuffing, right, so it’s really moist.

A: I’ve lost the stuffing. Where did you put it again?

C: You spread it over the potato and bread, then you put the chicken on top and rub the skin with salt and oil. The stuffing melds into the bread and the chicken melds into the stuffing, so the bread is like chicken bread. A: Well it’s upside-down like the Irish. C: Take the chicken off the bread, then you chop the bread so it’s like stuffing…

A: It’s anarchy. C: It’s like an Irish pizza for Christmas. The bread will steal the show.

A: I’m upset. It’s Christmas! You know why I’m a bit angry? As crazy as it sounds, the whole pizza thing makes a bit of sense. I can’t believe you’ve come up trumps with this one.

C: Well I don’t want to call it Fass-mas. I don’t want to slay you, Anthony, I want you on my sleigh.

A: Rudolf, not Gandalf, huh? Though Christmas is generally eating, drinking and relatives that end up going crazy. “So maybe a bit of Gandalf. C: Who goes crazy? A: All of them! It’s all happy and exciting in the lead-up, like ‘come over for Christmas’ and that. Then it’s war.

C: That’s the Christmas spirit, butcher!

FESTIVE ROAST CHICKEN WITH SAUSAGE & PRUNE STUFFING SERVES 4

You will need kitchen string for this recipe.

1 sourdough loaf, halved horizontally 20g unsalted butter, softened 1 medium potato, very thinly sliced (we used a mandoline) 1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil 100g pitted prunes, finely chopped 1 tbs finely chopped basil leaves 1/2 bunch sage, leaves picked, finely chopped 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed 3 tsp picked thyme leaves,

finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed 500g pork and fennel sausages,

casings removed 1.5kg whole chicken

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Place bottom half of sourdough on a baking tray (reserve top half for breadcrumbs or croutons). Spread with butter, top with potato and drizzle with 1 tbs oil.

To make stuffing, combine prune, basil, sage, fennel, thyme, garlic, sausage meat and 1 tbs oil in a bowl. Spread stuffing over potato slices. Top with chicken, tying the legs together with kitchen string. Rub chicken with a pinch of salt flakes and remaining 1 tbs oil, then roast, breast-side up, turning halfway to breast-side down, for 1 hour 25 minutes or until the juices of the chicken run clear when the thickest part of a thigh is pierced with a skewer.

Using a cleaver or kitchen shears, carve chicken into pieces and serve with thickly sliced sourdough, potato and stuffing.