ROAST CHICKEN RECIPE

ULTIMATE ROAST CHICKEN
1 medium sized chicken
1 large sweet potato
3 medium onions
1 red onion
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Butter
Olive oil
Ground black pepper
Salt
1pint chicken stock
8oz formed polenta
Potatoes for mashing
Beans and peas

I’m not going tell you how to mash potatoes as everyone has their own favourite way, so I’ll cut to the chase.
Cut the sweet potato in half and finely chop one half, place in a mixing bowl. Finely chop the red onion and the ears of half a sprig of rosemary and mix in with the sweet potato. Add plenty of black pepper and a little salt. Stuff the mixture into the chicken breast cavity. Peal an onion whole and plush that into the other cavity. With a sharp knife loosen the skin on the chicken breast and pack with butter before pushing in a sprig of rosemary. Chop the remaining onions and spread onto the base of a roasting tray adding half a pint of water. Put a grill on top, place the chicken in the centre and cover in foil. Place in a medium hot oven to cook slowly for an hour.
Chop the remaining sweet potato in large chunks and do the same with the polenta. Place in a bowl with the remaining rosemary and drizzle over olive oil and a little salt. Stir together regularly over the following hour. After one hour turn the heat up in the oven for half an hour.
Remove the chicken from the oven, take it of the tray and put to one side, removing and discarding the foil. Drain onions any juices into a saucepan. Put the chicken back in the tray on the bottom and surround with sweet potato and polenta place it all back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
In the meantime add the stock to the liquid from the tray and bring to the boil then simmer rapidly so it reduces quickly. Boil and mash the potatoes using the water to top up the gravy mixture. Take chicken out of the oven after half an hour, turn it over and replace it for ten minutes. Then turn it back over a bake for ten minutes on high.
Turn everything off remove the chicken and let it stand for a few minutes keeping everything warm in the oven. If the gravy isn’t thickened add some mashed potato. Beans and peas can be boiled during this period.
Serve with white wine and traditional stuffing of choice.

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