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Total Time:
2 hrs 55 mins
For the chicken and gravy
- 75 g
(3oz) butter, softened
- 2 Tbsp.
fresh tarragon
leaves, finely chopped
1 large chicken, about
1.8 kg (4lb)
- 1
lemon, halved
- 1
fennel bulb, cut into
wedges
- 700 g
(11⁄2lb) Jersey
Royals or new potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
For the vegetables in parsley pesto
- 600
mm (1pint) chicken
stock
- 300 g
(11oz) Chantenay
carrots
- 200 g
(7oz) shallots,
peeled and halved if large
- 1
clove garlic
- 25 g
(1oz) whole almonds
Small bunch flat-leaf
parsley, leaves picked
4tbsp olive oil
- 25 g
(1oz) grated
Parmesan
- 400 g
(14oz) frozen peas
For the gravy
- 150 ml
(5fl oz) chicken
stock
- 1 Tbsp.
plain flour
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. In a small bowl, mix 50g (2oz) of the butter with the tarragon and plenty of seasoning.
- Step 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.
- Step 3
Carefully remove from the oven and discard foil, then scatter fennel and potatoes around the chicken. Sprinkle vegetables with Pernod, oil, plenty of seasoning and shake the tray to coat. Roast for another hour until the chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.
- Step 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 vegetables warm.
- Step 5
For remaining vegetables, bring 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 and 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 and keep warm.
- Step 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. Season to taste, strain into a serving jug and serve with the chicken and vegetables.
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Extra flavour
Pernod adds a fresh, aniseed flavour to the chicken and gravy, but you could replace it with white wine for richness.
Per Serving:
- Calories: 857
- Fibre: 8 g
- Total carbs: 31 g
- Sugars: 8 g
- Total fat: 53 g
- Saturated fat: 17 g
- Protein: 51 g
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
