A good Sunday roast chook with dutch carrots & chickpeas

Golden, juicy roast chicken without an entire Sunday spent fussing over it. ‘Spatchcocking’ the chicken helps it cook quickly and evenly, while the carrots and chickpeas catch all those buttery, lemony pan juices underneath. You can get your butcher to spatchcock the bird for you, but its as simple as removing the backbone (and YouTube has some great tutorials if you’re unsure)

The shaved fennel and radish salad brings plenty of crunch and freshness to balance the richness. Simple, nourishing and flavour-packed—which is exactly what a Good Roast should be.

SERVES: 4-5 PREP TIME: 20 mins TOTAL TIME: 1 hr 20 mins

INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken, approximately 1.6–2kg, spatchcocked** (see note below)
2 bunches Dutch carrots, trimmed, scrubbed & large ones halved lengthways
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and well drained
60g butter, softened
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp smoked paprika
2-3 tinned anchovies
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
½ tbsp fennel seeds
EVOO for drizzling
Splash or two of white wine
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

SHAVED FENNEL & RADISH SALAD

1 fennel bulb, thinly shaved
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
A handful of fennel fronds
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp EVOO
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan-forced.

Combine the softened butter, crushed garlic, paprika, anchovies, lemon rind, a generous pinch of salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper - mash it together with a fork until it becomes a rough paste. Rub the butter all over the chicken, working a little underneath the skin where you can - and then on the flesh side as well.

Arrange the Dutch carrots in a roasting tray and then drizzle them with olive oil, scatter across fennel seeds and season well with salt, pepper - give them all a good rub down with you hands, and then place the chicken on top so the carrots form a bit of a ‘trivet’ and they can soak up all the juices. Drizzle the chicken again with the EVOO, season a little more and then place in the hot oven.

Roast for 30–35 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven and scatter the rinsed and well-drained chickpeas around the chicken. Give them a little shuffle through the buttery pan juices, add in the wine and a splash more water if you think it needs it, then return everything to the oven for another 15–20 minutes, or until the chicken is beautifully golden and cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest under loose foil for 10–15 minutes before carving.

While the chicken rests, combine the shaved fennel, radishes and fennel fronds. Whisk together the lemon juice, WWV, EVOO, Dijon mustard, honey, salt and pepper, then toss through the salad just before serving.

Serve the carved chicken with the golden carrots, crispy-edged chickpeas and plenty of fresh fennel and radish salad. Don’t forget to spoon those gorgeous roasting juices over the top - and share with the ones you love.

Buon appetito 🍋

**If you’re unsure about how to spatchcock a chicken, just ask YouTube! Its as simple as removing the backbone with a sharp knife or poultry shears. You can also get your butcher to do this for you. Roast the backbone before adding to a stockpot with some veggies to make bone broth.