Summer Roast Chicken

The weather outside is lovely and I want a lovely end of the week meal to reflect this. The main attraction is this chicken. Serve with potato salad, salad leave, couscous or whatever you want.

Serves 4-6 People

1 Whole Chicken
1 Lemon, cut into wedges
Handful of Rosemary Sprigs
Handful of Thyme Sprigs
200ml White Wine
Olive Oil
4/6 Strips of Streaky Bacon
Salt and Pepper
6 Garlic Cloves

1.Preheat the oven to 190c/170c Fan Assisted (If the packaging has different times follow those)

2. Begin by taking the chicken out of the packet and cutting the string. Prepare the chicken by putting lemon wedges around the chicken (between the legs and the wins) and any remaining in the chicken. Do the same with the garlic cloves. Pour the wine over the chicken.  Scatter the herbs around the chicken and a few in the chicken. Layer the bacon the strips over the breasts. Rub olive oil over the chicken and grind salt and pepper over the chicken. Cover with foil

3. General rule of thumb for roasting a whole chicken is 45 minutes per kg, plus 20 minutes. For my chicken it was in the oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes. (do the math and comment what the weight of my chicken was). Remove foil 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

4. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Test the chicken is cooked thoroughly by sticking a skewer through the thickest part, if the juices are clear then it has cooked thoroughly. If they don't then put back in the oven. Cut up and serve.

Slow Cooker Red Lamb Shank

Reason for the name red wine and redcurrant jelly are both key in this recipe. Another Slow cooker recipe for the blog.

Serves 2

2 x Lamb Shanks
2 tbsp Red Currant Jelly
250ml Red Wine
750ml Lamb Stock
Handful of Rosemary
1 Onion, Diced
2 Garlic Clove, crushed
Knob Of Butter
4 tbsp Plain Flour, seasoned
2 tbsp Plain Flour (Optional)

1. In the removable part of the slow cooker or a frying pan melt butter over a medium heat. Coat the lamb shanks in the seasoned flour. Brown the meat in the butter for 5 minutes turning so its all browned.

2. Add the Onion and garlic and low the heat and sweat for 2 minutes. Then add the wine, stock, Redcurrant jelly, rosemary and season. Put in the slow cooker.  Give a stir. And leave for the following:

- Low - 7 - 8 Hours
- Medium -  5 - 6 Hours
- High - 3 - 4 Hours

3. Remove meat from the slow cooker. Put on mashed potato and serve with vegetables. If you want the sauce/gravy to be thicken put the sauce over a hob and mix in flour. It should thicken. Should be about 10 minutes.