Chicken roasted with figs, stone fruit & sourdough
Chicken with fruit is a winner any day of the week – the fat from the chicken mixing with the sharp fruit creates a rich and super-tasty gravy that I could eat with a spoon! I like to use a whole bird and quarter it myself, leaving the meat on the bone to cook in the pan with the fruit and onions. This results in deliciously moist meat.
SERVES 4-6
PREPARATION TIME 20 minutes, plus (overnight) marinating
COOKING TIME about 50 minutes
1tbsp fennel seeds
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Juice and pared zest 1 lemon
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6 garlic cloves
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2tbsp runny honey
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1tsp dried chilli flakes
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100ml extra virgin olive oil, plus
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extra for browning and drizzling
1 large chicken
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2 red onions, quartered
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8 figs, halved
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4 stone fruit of your choice (plums,
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apricots, peaches or nectarines), destoned and halved
2 thyme sprigs
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1/4 loaf 2-day old sourdough bread
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Roast potatoes and greens, to serve
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1 Start by toasting the fennel seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat for a couple of min, until lightly browned and fragrant. Set aside to cool.
2 To make a marinade, combine the fennel seeds, lemon juice and zest, whole garlic cloves, honey, chilli flakes and oil in a large bowl and whisk together.
3 Quarter the chicken by removing the backbone with scissors, then cutting the breast plate in 2 down the middle and cutting off each leg above the thigh.
You will be left with 4 pieces. Season all over with salt and pepper.
4 Add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade mixture and cover. Leave to marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 4hr, overnight if possible.
5 When you’re ready to cook, preheat oven to 180°C fan (mark 6).
6 Bring a lightly oiled frying pan up to high heat. Add the chicken pieces, skin side-down, and brown for 5min. Transfer the pieces to a roasting tin no more than 20 x 30cm – you want the chicken and other ingredients to fit in the tray snugly.
7 Add the red onions, figs and stone fruit to the tray along with the sprigs of thyme. Pour over the marinade from the bowl, cover with foil and cook in the oven for 30min.
8 Meanwhile, rip the sourdough into chunks – don’t worry about them being even, the more rough and ready the better! Drizzle the chunks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
9 Remove foil and baste the chicken with the juices from the tin, then distribute the sourdough chunks around the chicken – don’t submerge them in the juices as they will naturally soak them up during cooking. Return tray to the oven, uncovered, and bake for a further 15min, until the chicken is cooked (check that the juices run clear when the meat is pierced with a knife), the skin is crispy and brown on top and the sourdough well toasted. Check seasoning and baste the chicken once more.
10 Transfer the chicken, fruit and bread to a platter and pour over some of the juices. Serve with crispy roast potatoes and greens.