HONEY, VANILLA, AND THYME ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to gas mark 6/400F/200°C.
• Pick the thyme leaves off and discard the stalks and finely chop the leaves.
• In a bowl, put the knob of butter and add half of the chopped thyme and the grated garlic and give it all a good mix.
• Lift the skin of the chicken with your fingers and push the herbed butter underneath the skin (you need to be very gentle as to not tear the skin).
• Season the chicken well inside and out.
• Slightly warm the honey in another bowl.
• Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the inside with the back of a knife and mix into the warmed honey.
• Add the remaining chopped thyme into the honey mixture.
• Place the chicken into a roasting tray and pour the honey mixture all over the chicken and pour 100ml of chicken stock into the tray.
• For the roast vegetables, peel the swede, parsnips and carrots and cut into equal sized chunks.
• Peel the onion and cut into wedges.
• Pick the rosemary leaves and roughly chop them.
• Toss all the vegetables in a little oil, add in the rosemary and season it well and place them in another roasting tray.
• Cook the chicken in the centre shelf and the vegetables in the bottom shelf.
• The vegetables will take about 30-35 minutes to cook (but the tray needs to be shaken and vegetables turned over every 15 minutes but be careful not to break them).
• The chicken will take about 1 hour to cook, basting it with the juices every 15 minutes as well.
• Meanwhile, to make the mash, peel the potatoes and chop them into large chunks and boil them in seasoned water until soft.
• Mash the potatoes and add the butter and season it well.
• Pass it through a sieve to get rid of any lumps and cover to keep warm.
• Once the chicken is ready, remove from the tray and transfer onto a serving dish. Cover the chicken with foil and let it rest for 20 minutes.
• Using a spoon, skim off the excess fat from the juices in the roasting tin and then add the remaining stock to the tray, scrape and mix with the juices.
• Pour the juices into a saucepan and bring it to boil for about 5 minutes.
• Whip the cream lightly.
• Add 2tbsp of the whipped cream into gravy in the saucepan and when it has warmed through remove from heat.
• Strain the gravy into a serving jug.
• Add the remaining cream to the mashed potatoes and mix in thoroughly. Re-heat if necessary in a pan or in the microwave.
• Transfer the roast vegetables into a serving dish.
• Serve all together and carve at the table.