Guest Recipe: Maple Roast Chicken One Tray
This recipe from Anna Stanford is absolutely perfect for busy weekends. Anna herself calls it a “I can’t be faffed” Sunday roast.
Anna Stanford is a self-taught cook and mother of three, her book Anna’s Family Kitchen: Navigating through food, faff and family life showcases the reality of family life, and how to achieve fun and easy mealtimes that aren’t all-consuming. Each recipe has been created to make the pressures of day-to-day cooking a little bit easier. To buy Anna’s book click here.
Maple Roast Chicken One Tray
“I love washing up after a roast” said nobody, ever! So here’s an idea for a “I can’t be faffed” Sunday roast.
If you use baby carrots & parsnips they don’t need peeling - just top & tail & leave them whole.
I used Charlotte potatoes and didn’t peel these either but you can peel and parboil a fluffy potato (such as a Maris Piper) if your roast potato eaters are particular!
If you’re feeding more than four you’ll need two chickens & a large roasting tray.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
1-2 x 1.4kg chickens⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
25g butter⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
4 tbsp maple syrup⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1 onion halved⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1 lemon halved⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
500g carrots⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
500g parsnips⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
500g potatoes halved⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Fresh thyme⠀⠀⠀⠀
Method⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Put the lemon & onion inside the cavity of the chicken & season with salt & pepper. Add to a roasting tray.
Melt the butter and maple syrup together and spoon half over the chicken.
Add some olive oil to the tray & add the potatoes. Put in an oven at 200 degrees for 30 mins.
Add the carrots, parsnips & thyme to the tray and season. Mix 1 tbsp olive oil into the remaining maple & butter mix. Drizzle over the veggies.
Return the tray to the oven for another hour checking the skin doesn’t burn although it will take on a dark colour because of the syrup. Pop a square of foil over the breast if you think it’s catching too much.
To make a gravy, remove all the veggies and chicken from the tray. Put the tray on the hob and stir in a tbsp flour and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan. Add 100ml white wine - let it bubble for a couple of minutes then add 500ml chicken stock. Season and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve with a green veg.