The Ultimate Roast Chicken Dinner

The roast dinner is a stable up and down the country, especially in the north and in my home county, the home of the Yorkshire pudding. For me, you can't beat good quality roasted meat, crispy roast potatoes, seasonal veg, a massive Yorkshire and a stunning gravy (or jus, if you're posh!). Roast dinners bring people together and create a wonderful feeling of being home, wherever that might be.

For the perfect roast chicken, you need crispy skin, succulent juicy meat and top notch seasoning and after quite a bit of experimentation I think I've cracked it. The other brilliant thing about cooking a roast is, of course, the leftovers and over the next couple of days I'll give you some ideas what to do with them. But for now, make this for your loved ones and I promise you'll absolutely love it.

The Ultimate Roast Chicken Dinner

Serves 4-6 plus leftovers

For the potatoes:

1.25kg large Maris Piper potatoes

1 head of garlic, split into cloves and bashed 

      with the flat part of a knife or by hand (optional) 

30g rosemary sprigs (optional) 

olive oil 

sea salt

For the chicken:

1.6kg organic free range chicken

2 medium onions, halved with skin on

2 carrots

2 sticks celery

1 bulb of garlic

1 lemon

small bunch of thyme, rosemary, 

       sage, bay or a mixture

olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

For the gravy:

1 tbsp flour

250ml chicken stock

For the Yorkshire puddings:

My Ultimate Yorkshire Puddings

Preheat the oven to 240ºC and take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.

Wash and peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Put them into a bowl under running water for 5 minutes to wash the starch off. Cover the potatoes with water in a large saucepan then add the garlic and rosemary if using and bring to the boil. Cook until the potatoes are very soft and almost breaking apart (approximately 25–30 minutes). Drain carefully and leave to cool in the colander.

To prepare your chicken, there's no need to peel the carrots and celery – just give them a wash and roughly chop them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled. Pile all the veg and garlic into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird. Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour). Put the lemon inside the chicken's cavity, with the bunch of herbs and more salt and pepper.

Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put it into the preheated oven. Turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning. When cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and put aside.

Meanwhile, pour 5mm of olive oil into a roasting tray large enough to hold the potatoes in one layer. Place the tray in the oven to pre-heat the oil for 15 minutes. Add the potatoes to the pan and coat them in the hot oil. Place the tray back in the oven for at least 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning the potatoes gently every 20 minutes, until the potatoes are golden brown and crispy all over. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.

While the chicken is resting, make the gravy. Place the roasting tin over a low flame and mash all the veg with a potato masher, discarding the skins from the onion and garlic. Then stir in the flour and sizzle until you have a light brown, sandy paste. Gradually pour in the stock, stirring all the time, until you have a thickened sauce. Simmer for 2 mins, using a wooden spoon to stir, scraping any sticky bits from the tin.

Serve with whatever you like/is in season and enjoy!