Labneh and Sage Roast Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes – Best Roast Chicken Ever!

I love a good roast chicken: not only do you get a tasty, affordable dinner from one bird, but you can make at least one more meal from the leftovers, plus nutritious stock to freeze for later use.

This is our favourite roast chicken recipe. So much so that I haven’t used any other recipe for roasting a bird since I discovered it a couple of years ago. It’s off-the-charts tasty, giving succulent meat and crispy skin that is addictively tasty; and it makes incredible stock with real depth of flavour.

It comes from Casa Moro, the second cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark of Moro on Exmouth Market near the Angel, in London. I’ve only been there once, many years ago when I worked in Clerkenwell and conveniently had to walk through Exmouth Market on my way home. The restaurant was inspired by a late-90s trip around Spain, Morocco and the Sahara in a camper van, which kind of makes me want to be Sam and Sam Clark.

A word about chickens. A few years ago I decided the welfare of the chickens I, and now my family, eat is more important than the cost: if it’s not free-range and preferably organic, I’m not buying it. The same goes for fish (always MSC-certified) and meat (free-range and higher welfare).

When I started out this way I found supermarket shopping incredibly stressful, particularly for fish. If a particular supermarket says something is responsibly sourced, are they telling the truth? I’ve come to the conclusion that avoiding clear labelling is deceitful in itself, so I don’t buy it unless it’s got the MSC label. Which meant saying goodbye to my beloved mackerel a couple of years ago after we took Hugh, Jamie and co’s advice to eat this sustainable fish so seriously that they’re now endangered. But, hey, there’s always herring.

It’s simpler for me now to buy my meat at the farmer’s market on Brixton Station Road, which has some really good deals for affordable meat. Clear, honest labelling for chickens and eggs is now commonplace, so that’s less of a worry, and it can be cheap from the supermarket (Lidl has good free-range chicken), although I’ve grabbed the occasional bargain from the market. Fish and seafood is trickier and it’s often easier to buy frozen and tinned if you want MSC-certified and affordable. But I wouldn’t turn your nose up; bags of frozen fish fillets are handy to have at your fingertips, and the rectangular fillets of coley that look completely wrong are actually perfect for making fish fingers. And the scallops I used for my Brixton Galettes came from a frozen bag from Marks and Spencer. They’re not cheap at between £7 and £8 a bag, but there’s plenty in there and they’ll last you for several meals if you’re careful with the portions. Tinned oily fish makes a quick and delicious lunch with wholemeal sourdough and fresh tomatoes.

Buying this way means that we eat a lot of vegetarian food and keep pricier cuts for special occasions. It also means that I make everything I can from one ingredient. Once the meat is stripped from the chicken carcass it goes in a big pot with half an onion, some celery sticks, a couple of carrots and some herbs, covered with water and then boiled down to a delicious stock. All the good things that go into this recipe are concentrated into a healthy, golden stock that is then frozen in ice cube trays to be popped into soups, risottos and stews over the coming weeks and months. I frequently added a stock cube to Sidney’s meals when he started on solids. It’s a really easy way to make sure babies are getting what they need nutritionally.

But back to the chicken. I make my labneh from homemade yogurt. We make yogurt every week so it’s not a big deal to strain some for labneh. However, you can buy it, make it with runny bought yogurt (see here for how to do it) or you could use thick Greek yogurt instead for this recipe.

The Clark’s recommend serving it with braised spinach and bulgur wheat or wild rice, which is perfectly good, but I find the smokiness of the chicken with sweet roasted tomatoes an incredible combination that takes this roast to another level.

Here’s how to make it.

Labneh and Sage Roast Chicken with Herbed Roast Tomatoes

Serves 4

1 medium chicken, preferably organic and free-range

1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt

250g labneh

3 tbsp finely chopped sage leaves

1 tsp sweet paprika

3 tbsp olive oil

100ml water

a squeeze of lemon

sea salt and black pepper

For the roasted tomatoes

4 big ripe tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp finely chopped Mediterranean herbs such as oregano, thyme and sage, or 4 tsp dried mixed herbs

olive oil

To serve

boiled rice (long-grain, brown, wild, or a mixture), or bulgur wheat

braised greens

Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7 and lightly oil 2 roasting tins. Put your chicken on a large plate or chopping board (not the one you use for the veg) with the neck end facing away from you.

In a small dish, mix up the salty garlic, labneh, 2 tablespoons of the sage and the sweet paprika, plus a little salt and pepper.

Now you’re going to get a bit messy. Give your hands a good wash and roll up your sleeves. It’s a good idea to wear an apron for this bit.

Starting from the tail end of the bird, gently lift the skin away from the flesh and ease your hands inside so that you’re separating the skin from the chicken breasts and thighs, without tearing it. You’re creating a pocket into which you’re going to stuff your labneh mixture.

Use your hands or a spoon to scoop up the stuffing mixture and push it underneath the skin, as far as it will go. Use your hands on top of the skin to gently massage the mixture around the bird so that the breasts and thighs are well stuffed. Seal the opening of the skin with some toothpicks. Now rub the outside of the skin with 2 tablespoons of the oil and the rest of the sage. You can add more seasoning if you prefer.

Transfer the stuffed chicken to the roasting tin and roast for 1–1½ hours. Test it after 1 hour by inserting a skewer into the fattest part of the leg. If the chicken is cooked the juices will be clear, if not, return it to the oven. My chicken is always cooked after 1 hour so make sure you check it. Don’t worry if the skin looks dark and burnt – this is a good thing – but you don’t want to dry out the meat by overcooking it.

Once the chicken is cooked you’re going to let it rest for a few minutes so that it’s easier to carve. Now’s the time to make a gravy from the juices in the pan. Tip up the cooked chicken so that all the juices from the cavity pour back into the pan, then transfer the bird to a clean board or plate, cover it loosely with foil and let it sit for 10 minutes. Skim off most of the fat from the roasting tray and add the water and a squeeze of lemon juice. Lay the tray over a medium heat on the hob and bring to a simmer, then scrape all the tasty caramelised bits from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon. Pour into a jug and keep warm.

To make the tomatoes, slice them in half and sprinkle with the chopped garlic and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the hot oven for 35 minutes or so (so put them in when your chicken’s been in for about 45 minutes).

Serve the chicken with the skin, alongside the juicy roasted tomatoes, rice or bulgur wheat and braised veg. Pour over a little gravy and rejoice at the wonder of the meal you’ve just created.

Casa Moro is published by Ebury Press and can be purchased here.

Moro restaurant tweets @RestaurantMoro and you can find all the details here.

Happy New Year and festive recipes

I can’t quite believe it’s here already, but Happy New Year! I have a good feeling about 2016.

I was a little neglectful towards the end of 2015. The thing about working at a computer for a living is that when you finish a hard day’s work, the last thing you want to do is spend more time in front of a screen writing blog posts. But Christmas provided a welcome break, and just because the writing stopped, doesn’t mean the cooking did.

So, there are more posts to come in 2016. But I’m starting small, with a recap of Christmas dinner and my recommendations for which recipes to trust next year, and which ones to avoid (because I will probably forget and make the same things again).

We celebrate two Christmases here – a French one on Christmas Eve, which consists of several courses, and a British one with one big feast on Christmas Day. I vowed this year to simplify so that I didn’t spend two days in the kitchen. I succeeded for one day, at least.

Christmas Eve menu

Aperitif – smoked salmon blinis – I like mine Polish-style after tasting them at a friend’s house a few years ago, with a dollop of horseradish rather than crème fraîche, a squeeze of lemon and a sprig of dill on top.

Starter – Coquille St Jacques from Marks and Spencer – I recommend this cheat. Plenty of scallops, a rich, creamy sauce, whipped potatoes and crunchy breadcrumbs. And you can freeze them ahead and cook them from frozen. Easy peasy.

Main – Salmon en Croute with boiled potatoes in herb butter and French beans. Salmon en croute is such as easy thing to make and the piece of fish I got from our local fishmonger, LS Mash & Sons on Atlantic Road, was so delicious it couldn’t fail to be a winner. I always buy my Christmas fish and seafood from them. It is such a simple recipe – unroll a sheet of shop-bought puff pastry and roll it out a bit, if necessary, to make sure it’s big enough to cover your fish. Take a piece of salmon side and lay it down the middle of your pastry. Mix some soft cheese with a small bunch of chopped dill, a few capers and some seasoning, then spread it all over the fish. Wrap the pastry over the salmon (I latticed mine, but you can simply wrap it up and flip it over so that it’s smooth on top) and brush with beaten egg. Bake at about 200˚C/180˚C fan/gas 6 for 20–30 minutes, until nicely browned on top. The cooking time will depend on the size of your pie and how you like your fish cooked. Mine served 6–8 and cooked for 30 minutes.

Cheese – we got a selection of British cheeses and served it with homemade bread. The French in-laws are surprisingly complimentary about British cheese. Particular favourites were the Cornish Yarg and an incredible Welsh goats’ cheese that I’ll have to go and find again, because it deserves a recommendation.

Pudding – Mince pies and cream – not exactly French, but they can be made in advance and they’re light enough to enjoy after a big meal. I use Delia Smith’s mincemeat from Delia’s Happy Christmas (I had a jar leftover from last year) and Paul Hollywood’s pastry. It’s extremely buttery and light, but a nightmare to roll out. The trick is to refrigerate for at least 20 minutes and roll in small batches between sheets of clingfilm, leaving the rest in the fridge. Fiddly, but the only way I could get them to work.

Christmas Day menu

Dinner – Roast goose, layered vegetable pie, roast potatoes, boiled sprouts with herb butter, glazed honey carrots and parsnips and braised red cabbage. Here I failed entirely in my quest to simplify and spent 4 hours in the kitchen, but it was still delicious, and not as late as dinner last year, which is an improvement. I followed recipes for everything except the sprouts, and some worked better than others.

Gordon Ramsay’s roast goose – this was a delicious recipe that I would definitely use again. The breast was the best part, covered in a juicy layer of fat and crisp skin that was mouthwateringly good. I let the bird cook a little longer than suggested so that it cooked enough for most guests, but if I did it again I’d probably cook for the recommended 20 minutes per kilo for slightly juicier meat.

Anna Jones’s Festive Layered Pie – I’ve been hooked on Anna’s book A Modern Way to Eat ever since I got it in the summer. Her vegetarian eggs benedict is a wonderful, wonderful thing. This pie was for my mum, mainly, but it was big enough for all of us to have a slice, with plenty left over, and it was a sensation. It’s layers of vegetables, each roasted separately with different herbs and zests, inside a rich, herby pastry. Each of the combinations is so perfectly matched that they would all make great side dishes in their own right (parsnips with orange zest and sage are a revelation), but layered in a pie they were a really indulgent treat. The recipe list includes thyme for the pastry, which isn’t included in the method, so I’m not sure if she intended to keep it or not, but I added it and we all thought the pastry was amazing. I actually made the pie the weekend ahead and froze it before cooking. Then I cooked it from frozen on Christmas Day, adding half an hour or so to the cooking time (a little tip I learnt from pie supremo Marika Gauci).

I use Jamie Oliver’s method for my roast potatoes and they always go down well.

I used this recipe for glazed carrots and parsnips, which were okay, but not amazing. I found them a little too vinegary for my taste, but I boiled them first and finished them off in the oven, so that’s probably where I went wrong.

And this is the recipe I used for braised cabbage. Again, a little too vinegary for me, but a good counter to the richness of the goose. We have tons left, so I recommend using have a cabbage rather than a whole one. Although you can freeze braised cabbage and you can also freeze shredded cabbage before it’s cooked. I have some in freezer bags ready to whip out for stir fries and Sunday roasts.

Pudding – Delia’s Christmas Cake. I made this before I went away in mid-November and fed it with a half a bottle of brandy – perhaps I’ll lay of the booze a bit next year. I top mine with nuts rather than marzipan and icing and it’s just as delicious warmed up and served with double cream. I’ve made this cake a few times and it’s always a winner, although I’m also partial to Nigella’s Italian Christmas Cake, which you can make much closer to Christmas and which is so moreish, it never lasts long.

The Leftovers

As always, the leftovers were almost as good as the main event. I stir fried the goose with noodles, vegetables and teriyaki sauce, then boiled down the carcass with all the vegetables trimmings to make a healthy and heartwarming soup. I had a poussin in the freezer that needed to be eaten so I roasted that and added it to the soup with more noodles and mixed vegetables. We still have a little left over so I’m going to use it as stock to cook rice. We also had steak left over from an earlier meal and I used that for a rich tomato sauce with pasta. It went down a treat with the little man. Never throw anything away!

So that’s our festive feasting. We ate too much, of course, but what’s January for if not for fixing the festive damage.

Happy 2016!

Butter and Herb Butter from Scratch

I’ve been meaning to have a go at making butter for a while now. I kept reading about how easy it is, and how fun it is to make it with children. What’s more, you’re in control of how many additives and preservatives go into it, so it’s hopefully a healthier option than shop-bought butter.

What’s brilliant is that butter can be made with just one ingredient – cream – plus salt if you want to add it. And it is fun. And children do love it, although Sidney’s a bit young and kept trying to run off with the jar.

The key to making butter is not to give up. You start off with cream in a jar and shake it up until you have butter. But first you’ll get whipped cream (handy to know if you don’t have a whisk handy – I’m thinking makeshift cream tea beside the sea.)

I was having too much fun to keep time, but I think I was shaking for about 15 minutes. Maybe less. I was imagining toned upper arms but, to be honest, it wasn’t that much of a workout before I heard the sound of butter sloshing around in buttermilk.

I decided to add herbs to my butter. My plants have gone a little crazy since the sun came out and I needed to trim back my sage, in particular. I kept a little back for plain butter and put the individual herb butter packages in the freezer. I’ll probably use them to top fillets of fish.

This is how I made my butter, and herb butter.

Home-made butter

200ml double cream

a pinch of salt (optional)

iced water

Pour the cream into a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake! First of all you’ll get a lovely whipped cream.

Then, after about 10 minutes, you’ll hear a sloshing sound when the butter separates from the buttermilk.

Pour off the buttermilk and save it for later, squashing the butter with a spoon to squeeze out as much buttermilk as you can. (The buttermilk should last in the fridge for xxx days; I used mine to make scones.)

Tip the butter into a bowl of iced water and continue to squeeze out any remaining buttermilk. Tip the liquid away and replace it with fresh iced water a couple of times to make sure all the buttermilk is gone, as this is what makes the butter go rancid and it will keep for longer without it. Now is the time to add salt, if using.

Now your butter is ready to eat.

Home-made herb butter

4 portions butter
1 chopped tbsp each of common sage, pineapple sage, chives and Greek basil

Simply chop up your clean, dry herbs, separately or as a mixture and then mix the chopped herbs with the butter.

Wrap your butter or herb butter in greaseproof paper and store in the fridge for up to three weeks (if you rinsed it really well), or the freezer for a few months. Salted butter will last longer than unsalted.