Roast chicken with parsley pesto vegetables

Pernod adds a fresh, aniseed flavour to the chicken and gravy, but you could replace it with white wine, if you like.

SERVES 6 PREP COOK FOR THE GRAVY

• 150ml (5fl oz) chicken stock

• 1tbsp plain flour

1 Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark

5. In a small bowl, mix 50g (2oz) of the butter with the tarragon, then season.

2 Lift the flap of skin at the chicken’s neck and gently ease your fingers between the skin and breast meat. Push the butter under the skin to cover the whole breast. Put the lemon in the bird’s cavity and season well. Tie the legs together and sit the chicken in a large roasting tray, covering with foil. Roast for 45min, basting with the juices halfway through cooking.

3 Carefully remove from the oven and discard foil. Scatter fennel and potatoes around the chicken. Sprinkle vegetables with Pernod and oil; shake the tray to coat. Roast for another hour until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.

4 Remove chicken from the oven and transfer to a board to rest for at least 30min. Return the roasting tray to the turned-off oven to keep the veg warm.

5 For remaining vegetables, bring

• Plain flour, to dust • 500g pack puff pastry • 8tbsp apricot jam • 4 Braeburn apples, cored and very thinly sliced

Serve with vanilla ice cream or a little bit of toffee sauce from a jar! 1 Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out the pastry until it measures roughly 25.5cm x 35.5cm (10in x 14in) and is 5mm (¼in) thick. Trim edges to neaten. Put on a baking tray and prick pastry with a fork, leaving a 1cm (½in) border unpricked. 2 Spread half the jam over the pricked pastry, then arrange apple slices on top, overlapping them to make neat rows.

3 Bake the tart for 30-35min. When the tart is 5min from the end, heat the remaining jam with 2tsp water until just boiling. Brush the jam over the apples as soon as you remove the tart from the oven. Serve in slices, warm or at room temperature.

PER SERVING: CALS 344; FAT 16g; SAT FAT 10g; CARBS 45g

TO FREEZE Cut the finished tart into slices. Wrap each slice in non-stick baking parchment; freeze for up to 1 month. To serve, defrost at room temperature (about 1hr) or arrange frozen slices on a baking tray and warm through in an oven preheated to 150°C (130°C fan) mark 2 for 15-20min or until defrosted. chicken stock to the boil in a wide frying pan. Add the carrots and shallots and simmer, uncovered, for 15-20min until almost all the liquid has evaporated. For the parsley pesto, combine the garlic, almonds, parsley, oil, a large pinch of salt and 4tbsp of water in a food processor, or blend with a stick blender, then stir through the cheese; set aside. Add the peas to the vegetable pan for a further 5min until tender. Remove from the heat, drain off any excess liquid and stir pesto through the warm vegetables to coat. Transfer to a serving dish; keep warm.

6 With a slotted spoon, lift the fennel and potatoes into another serving dish; keep warm. For the gravy, skim most of the fat off the chicken cooking liquid and discard. Pour remaining cooking liquid and chicken stock into a small pan set over a medium heat. Mix the flour with the remaining 25g (1oz) butter to make a paste. Whisk into the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 10min until thickened. Strain into a serving jug; serve with the chicken and vegetables.

PER SERVING: CALS 857; FAT 53g; SAT FAT 17g; CARBS 31g

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