Rustic Roast Chicken, Chunky Crouton and Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

Ingredients

1 medium chicken

Olive oil

1 lemon

A small bunch of thyme

1 bulb of garlic

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

Sea salt and black pepper to season

400g cherry tomatoes

1 crusty loaf

6 rashers of smoky bacon

Cider vinegar

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

A bunch of soft herbs (basil, mint, parsley)

6 spring onions

Method

• Take your bird out of the fridge half an hour before you need it to bring it up to room temperature.

• Preheat the oven as high as it will go (usually about 250ºC). Place the chicken in an oiled oven tray and cut the string that ties it so that it ‘relaxes’. Prick the lemon all over with a knife and stuff it into the cavity along with the thyme, three peeled cloves of garlic and the five-spice. Drizzle the outside with oil and rub with salt and pepper.

• Pop the chicken in the oven. Keep it up at maximum heat for 15 minutes, then turn it down to 190ºC for 1 hour 10 minutes, basting the bird a few times with the juices in the pan.

• In the meantime cut all the cherry tomatoes in half and peel the rest of the cloves of garlic. Twenty minutes before the chicken is due to be ready, remove it from the oven, lift it out of the tray and scatter in the tomatoes and garlic. Then pop the bird back on top and place back into the oven until cooked – when the leg joint is pierced with a fork the juices should run clear.

• Transfer the chicken to a plate and allow to rest and cool. Tear the crusty loaf into large bite-sized pieces and put them into the roasting tray, toss them around with the tomatoes and garlic, then spread them in an even layer and cut up the bacon and scatter on top.

• Place back into the oven for around 20 minutes until golden and crispy.

• Meanwhile remove all the skin from the chicken and use two forks to shred all the meat possible from the bone. Pile it into a large bowl and spoon in any of the resting juices from the plate. Drizzle some good olive oil over, a good splash of cider vinegar and the wholegrain mustard, and give it a good mix around. Chop up the herb leaves and finely slice the spring onions and add them to the bowl, giving everything a light toss again, then taste and season further if needed.

• Once the croutons are golden and crisp, toss everything together and tip it onto a large platter in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves.

• Serve with some steamed greens if you like – broccoli, green beans or whatever appeals to you.