Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

If I have weekend visitors and decide to serve chicken on the Sunday for lunch, I like to roast a couple of large birds (any leftovers are so useful during the week) and serve with piles of beef dripping roast potatoes and my special stuffing balls. Everyone loves them and they are so so easy to make. Just add lashings of gravy, some carrots and green vegetables on the side. Apple crumble for afters? Perfect!

Ingredients – Serves 6

• Two large high welfare chickens
• 50g unsalted butter, softened
• A large pack of fresh sage leaves
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tsp each of salt, pepper, ground cinnamon and smoked paprika
• 1 unwaxed lemon
• 8 large cloves of garlic
• 500 ml chicken stock. I use a Knorr chicken gel pot
• 25ml white wine
• 2 tsps tomato puree
• 1 stick of celery, I onion, I medium carrot
• 1 x 500g tube of pork sausage meat – most butchers sell them. Alternatively, you can buy 500g of sausages and skin them.
• 1 shallot, finely chopped and fried for 5 minutes in a little light olive oil
• 1 pack of Merchant gourmet whole chestnuts, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs – sourdough for preference
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2kg bag of potatoes, Maris Piper for preference
• 30g beef dripping – it makes the crispiest roasties

To make…

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• First, prep the chickens. Mix the butter with the salt , pepper, cinnamon and paprika. Smear the butter liberally all over the the breast and legs of the chicken. Stuff each cavity with 2 garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, a generous sprig of sage leaves and half a lemon.
• Slice the onion, carrot and celery into batons and scatter them over the base of your roasting dish with the remaining garlic cloves. This will form the base of your gravy. Sit the chickens on the sliced vegetables. Roast for 2 hours. (prep everything else while the chicken is in the oven). Baste after an hour. If you test the legs with the tip pf a sharp knife after 2 hours, the juices ought to run clear. Turn the oven up to 220C and roast for a further half an hour. The skin should be golden and crisp. Lift the chickens out of the roasting tray and place them on a large cutting board to rest. Cover loosely with foil to keep them warm until you want to carve and joint.
• Scoop the vegetables and all the cooking juices into a saucepan. Make up the liquid with 500ml of chicken stock. Add the tomato paste and white wine. Blend smooth and silky with a stick blender and then simmer gently. This will form a delicious gravy. Season to taste before decanting into a warmed jug to serve.
• While the chicken is roasting, prep the potatoes and stuffing balls and all your veg.
• For the roast potatoes, peel the whole bag and cut any large ones into even sized chunks. Boil in plenty of salted water for 5 minutes. Drain, allow the steam to dissipate and scuff them up gently in the pan. Heat the beef dripping in a roasting dish and then add the cooled potatoes to the hot fat. Baste them in the fat. Put them in the oven when you turn the chicken up to 200C. When you take out the chicken, put the potatoes on the middle shelf and turn the oven up to 220C. Roast for a further 30 minutes. They should turn golden brown and super crisp.
• For the stuffing balls, mix the pork sausage meat, the sautéed shallot, chopped chestnuts and 8 large finely chopped sage leaves together. Season with half a tsp of salt and another of ground black pepper. Mix in the breadcrumbs and beaten egg. Turn the stuffing mix onto a cutting board and form it into an oblong shape. Cut in half and then half again and then divide each quarter into 3 even sized pieces. Wet your hands and form 12 even-sized ‘meatballs’. Put each one into a 12-cup shallow baking tray. Put them on the bottom of the oven when the potatoes are cooking at 220C. Roast for 30 minutes. The outside should be crisp and the insides still soft.
• Put your carrots and veg on to cook about 8 minutes before serving so they stay a little al dente.
• If you’ve followed the sequence of timings, the roast potatoes and stuffing balls should be ready to serve as you carve the rested chicken. I put it all onto one big serving dish. Pour your hot gravy into a jug and plate your veg. Serve on warmed plates. If you make crumble for dessert, this can go into the oven as you serve the chicken and then it will ready in 40 minutes. Just remember to set a timer. Enjoy!

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