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Individual Chicken Roast

If you want a nice roast dinner on a Sunday but can't be bothered with cooking a whole chicken this recipe works great. Don't get me wrong leftovers can be wonderful but sometimes I just don't want to eat chicken for my next four meals. It can also be scaled up or down so easily to serve anywhere between one and four people. Although after four you may as well do the whole bird as you'll get through it in one sitting.

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The focus here is really on the dry rub for the chicken and the flavours in the gravy. These combine to give you all that lovely herb flavour you get from stuffing without having to actually make any and therefore less to clean up and no leftovers.

Ingredients

​Serves 2

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Gravy

  • 500ml chicken stock

  • 2 tsp dijon mustard

  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

  • 1/2 tsp dried tarragon

  • 2 tsp cornflour or plain flour

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Chicken

  • 2 large chicken thighs (or breasts)

  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

  • 1/2 tsp garlic granules

  • 1 tsp dried thyme

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Veg

  • 350g potatoes

  • 3 carrots

  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

I always start with the gravy as I want as long as possible for all the flavours to mingle as I can get. So first things first put all your gravy ingredients except the cornflour into a small saucepan, add a pinch of salt and pepper, bring it to a simmer with the lid on and just ignore it for a while.

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Now we are going to hit the veg for which you can go with anything you like here. But to give you an idea cut the potatoes into 1 inch bits and boil for 5 mins just to give them a head start. Then bring the oven up to 190c while you cut the carrots into roughly the same size chunks. Once the potatoes are done, drain them and add them to a roasting pan with the carrots and about 4 tbsp or a good glug of vegetable oil and a sprinkling of salt and black pepper. mix it all together and pop it in the oven for 20 mins giving them a turn over halfway through.

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So that's our veg and gravy going, now to turn our attention to the chicken. In a pestle and mortar grind together the fennel, cumin, garlic granules and thyme. This is going to give us a powdered rub that will really ramp up the flavour. Now simply make a few cuts across the skin of the chicken thighs and liberally coat them in the rub.

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Once the veg has had it's 20 mins give it another turn then lay the chicken thighs on top and return it to the oven at the same temperature for 30 mins (25 mins if you are using chicken breast or it will dry out).

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After you have put the chicken in the oven you can turn back to the gravy. In a cup mix the cornflour with a small amount of cold water, only a tablespoon or so, as this creates a paste that is easier to mix and therefore get any lumps out. Using plain flour works just as well but takes a bit more whisking. Now spoon in a bit of the hot gravy and mix again before pouring in to the pan. All this is doing is making sure that when the cold mixture hits the hot gravy it doesn't clump up. Stir, put your lid back on and simmer for another 15 mins.

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We are almost there!

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After the gravy has had it's 15 mins remove the lid and we'll use the last 15 to reduce it down. After that 15 mins your gravy should have reduced to about a quarter of it original volume and be the perfect thickness and all the other elements are fully cooked.

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Separate out the veg and chicken onto individual plates, pour over the hot gravy and dig in.

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