What you need:
-one medium size organic chicken (about 1.5kg)
-olive oil
-Pomegranate and fresh mint and thyme to serve
For the stuffing:
100g Tartine baguette bread – broken into pieces
1 tablesp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablesp. fresh mint, chopped
1 small shallot, cut into quarters
2 cloves of peeled and chopped garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g Irish butter, softened
To Make the Stuffing:
Place the broken up baguette, mint and thyme as well as the chopped shallot and garlic in a food processor. Process it until you have a nice crumbly mix. Then add the butter and whiz again before putting the mix into the cavity of the washed chicken. (I always wash the chicken inside and out with some lemon juice for freshness).
To make
-Place the stuffed chicken in a roasting tin -up side down and sprinkle with olive oil
-roast for about 1 hour 20 mins
-Turn and baste the chicken halfway through cooking and spoon the juices over the chicken
-To check if the chicken is cooked pierce the thickest part of the leg. If the juices run clear it’s done.
-Allow to rest for 10 minutes and carve the meat, adding some delicious stuffing to each for serving
-Serve on a bed of butter couscous and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and fresh mint and thyme and serve
Ingredients from the garden
Herbs
Even at this time of the year there are plenty of herbs which you can use. I had thyme and mint in abundance in the garden so these made there way into the chicken recipe. There are plenty of evergreen plants which are wonderful for cooking at this time of the year and herbs such as bay leaf and rosemary are great for roasts and soups. Plan ahead now and grow some in the garden for cooking all year round.
Garlic
I love garlic, especially roasted and use it in most recipes. It also happens to be fairly easy to grow and can be planted in autumn or early spring. I plant it both in Autumn and Spring which allows me to harvest garlic throughout the year when the leaves turn yellow.
