In the months before Christmas we often find ourselves roasting chickens at every opportunity in mental and emotional preparation for the pressure of the bountiful festive bird. This recipe is great for one of the first roasts of the season, as the autumn veggies won’t leave you bored of your festive trimmings by the time Christmas dinners roll around.

Over-roasting your poultry is easily done, particularly when cooking instructions are over-cautious or you’re relying on seeing the juices run clear. The best way to ensure you don’t do this is to cook it by temperature, not time. You can use a Thermapen to intermittently check the temperature, but we love to use the DOT Digital Thermometer so we can relax in the knowledge that we’ll be notified as soon as it’s done.

Temperatures

The optimum temperature to cook chicken to is 74°C, any higher than this and you will begin to lose vital juices. 

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 lemon cut in half
• Small bunch of rosemary and thyme
• ½ a bulb of garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• 2 carrots
• 4 shallots
• 2 parsnips
• 1 butternut squash
• 2 leeks

Tip: let it rest

When you remove a large piece of meat from the oven, the internal temperature continues to rise through the process of conduction. This is called carryover cooking. This means that if you stop cooking your meat at the point that it reaches optimum temperature, by the time you serve the food it may have raised a significant amount. Taking this into consideration, we recommend cooking your chicken until it reaches 70°C as the temperature will rise to 74°C while it rests.

Directions

• Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature/ 20°C.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• Chop the vegetables, toss with oil and put into a roasting dish.
• Place one half of the lemon into the cavity of the bird and place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
• Crush the garlic, tear the herbs and mix into a bowl with some oil. Rub the mixture into the skin of the chicken.
• Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the chicken and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper.

• Set the DOT to 70°C. Insert the probe into the thickest part of the bird, between the breast and thigh (without touching the bone). Place inside the oven and cook until the alarm goes.
• Cover the tray in tin foil and tea towels to keep it well insulated. Leave to rest for at least 30 minutes before returning to check the temperature using a Thermapen. Make sure the temperature has risen to 74°C at the thickest part.
• Carve and serve with the autumn vegetables and plenty of gravy.