Green-garlic chicken with roasted-pepper sauce and red rice

Serves 4

You can be generous with the new season’s mild-flavoured, soft and juicy green garlic, roasted here with chicken, a sweet pepper sauce and an earthy salad.

— 4 green-garlic stalks, cut

horizontally into round slices — 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil — juice of 1 lemon

— 1 x 1.2-1.5kg chicken — leaves from 1 sprig of

rosemary, finely chopped

For the sauce

— 1 banana shallot, chopped — 3 red peppers, halved and deseeded, then finely chopped

— 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil — 1 tsp sweet paprika

— 1 tbsp thick

Greek-style yogurt

For the rice

— 160g red rice

— 4 tbsp flat-leaf parsley,

chopped

— 4 tbsp olive oil

— juice of ½ lemon

— 2 tsp nigella or black

sesame seeds

— 2 tbsp radish or other red

sprouts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 150C/gas mark 2.

Put the green garlic in a roasting pan with the oil, lemon juice, and rosemary, and season.

Cut the back bone out of the chicken – this is on the underside and is easy to remove with a pair of strong kitchen scissors. Flatten or spatchcock the chicken using the heel of your hand, then put it in the roasting dish with the garlic, coating it with the seasoned oil. Add about 100ml water to the pan, cover with foil then roast slowly for one hour. Remove the foil and continue to roast the chicken for another 15-25 minutes, until lightly browned – you may need to grill a little if you have an electric oven.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the shallot, red pepper and oil in a frying pan and cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes or until very soft. Remove from the heat, cool completely then put in a food processor with the paprika and yogurt and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt.

Put the rice in a pan and cover with 3cm of cold water – boil until just tender then drain, refresh with cold water and cool. Combine with the parsley, oil and lemon juice with half a teaspoon of salt, then scatter over the seeds and red sprouts, if using.

To serve, put the chicken on a large board, ready to joint with a carving knife. Heap the rice beside it, with a bowl of the pepper sauce.