A most delicious dish from ” A Bird in the Hand” by Diana Henry.
Ingredients
- 25 g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1.8 kg free range chicken
- 350 ml whole milk
- 10 cloves garlic peeled but left whole
- 3 leaves bay
- a good grating nutmeg
- 2 unwaxed lemons finely zested
Servings:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas mark 4. Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan that can hold the chicken and has a lid. Season the bird, tie the legs together if you want and brown it all over, using two big forks or wooden spoons to turn the chicken, seasoning it as you go. Try to avoid piercing the skin. Pour off the fat; you don’t need to throw it out, you can keep it to fry potatoes.
- Add the milk, garlic, bay leaves, nutmeg and lemon zest to the pot. Bring to just under the boil, then remove from the heat. Put a lid on the pot and cook in the hot oven for 1½ hours, removing the lid halfway through cooking. Baste occasionally, spooning the milk up over the bird.
- At the end of cooking time the bird will be succulent and golden and the juices will be copious and slightly curdled. Squash the garlic cloves with the back of a fork so they break down and flavour the juices. Taste; you may want to add a little more nutmeg.
- Serve with orzo or a rice pilaf – spooning the juices over the chicken and whatever starch you choose for a side dish. The vegetable you choose depends on the time of year. In winter it’s good with roast carrots, in the summer roast tomatoes and a salad of bitter leaves.
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