Roast Chicken with Fresh Thyme and Honey Jus.

This week’s Saturday night dinner date once again draws from My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, a great cookbook that my fiancé, Carolyn Flynn and I picked up while vacationing in Ireland this Summer. This time we enjoyed Roast Chicken with Fresh Thyme and Honey Jus.

This reminded me a bit of my favorite meal when I was growing up, Honey Fried Chicken.

Ingredients

Serves 4 Roast Chicken:

• 1 organic whole chicken (4 1/2 lb)

• 3/oz butter

• Bunch of fresh thyme

• Cracked black pepper

Fresh Thyme & Honey Jus:

• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar

• 2fl oz chicken stock (p370)

• 2 tbsp Vermouth

• 1/2 tsp flour or starch mixed with 1 tbsp water (optional)

• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

• 1-3 tsp honey

• Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Directions

 Preheat the oven to 400F. Pat dry both the outside and inside of the chicken with kitchen paper.

In a roasting pan, melt 2oz of the butter on the stove or in the oven (ensure the butter does not burn) and use this to coat the entire chicken and season with black pepper as well (there is enough salt in the butter). Stuff the remaining 1oz butter into the cavity of the chicken with the thyme. Turn the chicken to be breast side down in the roasting tin and roast in the oven for 1 hour.

Turn the oven down to 340°F and turn the chicken breast face up, baste well with the juices and roast for another 40 minutes basting a few more times. To check if cooked, pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer and let the juices run out.

If they are clear then it is cooked, but if they still look pink, return to the oven for another 15 minutes. When cooked, remove the chicken from the roasting tray to rest for 15 minutes, covering with foil to keep warm.

Pour off any excess fat in the roasting tin, being careful not to lose any of the juices.

To make the jus, firstly add the vinegar and cook for a few minutes until almost all evaporated, then add the stock and vermouth to the roasting tin and scrape the residue from the base of the pan. Simmer on the stove top over a medium-high heat until the liquid has reduced by half to a coating consistency. If the sauce is too thin, whisk in the flour/starch and water mixture to thicken. Add the thyme and honey to taste.

Carve the rested chicken and serve with a generous spoonful of the jus.

I served mine with some steamed broccoli.