Orange Whole Roast Chicken with a Silky Thyme & Port Gravy

This is one to cook for friends or family, they may come just on the smell from your oven alone! Succulent roast whole chicken, stuffed with fresh oranges, thyme and Cornish Butter. Served with all the trimmings and the most amazing, silky, rich, Thyme & Port Gravy.

Full Recipe Below and #YouTube Video coming soon!!

Ingredients:

1. Whole Chicken (ideally organic / free-range)

2. 4 x Oranges

3. 1 x Lemon

4. 2 x Carrots

5. 1 x Red Onion

6. 3 x Large Garlic Cloves

7. Bunch of Fresh Thyme

8. Chicken Stock (450Ml)

9. Port or Sherry

10. Plain Flour

11. Soy Sauce

12. Worchestishre Sauce

13. Cornish Butter

14. Rock Salt and Black Pepper

To Roast the Chicken:

Prepare your chicken - Remove from the fridge, remove any string etc, and stuff the cavity with a bunch of thyme, a few knobs of Cornish Butter, 1 x orange halved and peeled, 1 large garlic clove crushed, some olive oil, salt and pepper. Rub the skin with olive oil, salt and pepper and add a few more knobs of butter on top of the chicken, these will melt into the breast.

Prepare a deep roasting tray with a little olive oil, then make the trivet. Quarter the red onion, peel and halve the carrots, crush the remaining garlic cloves, half the lemon and 2 x oranges. Chuck these into the roasting tray, seasoning and drizzling with olive oil. Sit the chicken on top and cook in the middle of the oven following your chickens cooking guidelines. Baste the chicken every 30 mins. Finally, 30 mins before the coking is up, halve and squeeze the remaining orange over the chicken, chucking it into the roasting tray. Once cooked, take the chicken out of the oven, set it on a warm plate, cover it loosely with tin foil and let rest for 20-30 mins.

To Make the Gravy:

Decant the juices from the chicken roasting tray into a jug, mashing everything down to extract maximum flavour. Prepare your chicken stock. Take 5-6 tbsp's of the roasting juices and put this into a pan with 3 tbsp's of plain flour, cook and allow to bubble and thicken, forming a roux. Add the chicken stock, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, 4 tbsp's of soy sauce, 4-5 tbsp's port or sherry, a little squeeze of fresh orange, a small bunch of thyme, the pan-roasting juices, and season to taste. Bring to the boil and then let this reduce for 20 - mins on med-low heat until you have a rich, silky gravy. The longer you reduce, the thicker and more intense the gravy will become.

To Serve:

Carve your chicken and serve with my lemon thyme roasties, some fresh seasonal veg and maybe a yorkie! The subtle flavour from the Orange and Thyme roast chicken paired with the rich, flavoursome gravy is amazing.