Whole roast chicken, rainbow vegetables

The kind of dinner centerpiece that stands out and shines with color. It’s giving Nigella Lawson, it’s giving Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once.

I love this recipe because it’s so easy and straightforward. The chicken just rests on top of the veggies, so they are technically chicken fat roasted vegetables. It all happens in one tray in one hour flat.

Ingredients:

Whole chicken, approximately 1 - 1.5 kg

4 tbsp butter, unsalted, cold slices — under the skin

Chicken Rub:

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

2 tbsp olive oil

pinch of salt

fresh cracked black pepper

Filling the cavity: (depending on how much you can fit!)

few sage sprigs

few thyme sprigs

1-2 shallot, quartered, skin on

4-6 garlic cloves, crushed, skin on

1/4-1/2 whole lemon, sliced

salt and pepper

Chicken fat roasted rainbow vegetables: (any colorful root veggies you can find!)

4 cups chopped rainbow veggies, skin on

6 garlic cloves, skin on

2 tbsp olive oil

pinch of salt

fresh cracked black pepper

I used:

Japanese purple sweet potato

Sweet potato (orange)

Pumpkin

Parsnip

Dutch carrots

Radishes

Beetroot

Method:

Gather the rainbow vegetables that are available to you and roughly chop them all the same size. Add a few garlic cloves into the mix and lay them out on a large baking dish, big enough so that the veggies are next to each other, but not on top of each other. Drizzle olive oil over them and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Preheat oven to 200C/390F fan forced.

To prepare the chicken for roasting: Fill the cavity (the empty inside of the chicken) with sage, thyme, lemon, garlic and shallot. Season the inside with salt and pepper generously.

Slide cold butter slices under the chicken breast skin.

Season the whole chicken with all of the seasonings listed under “chicken rub” and rub all over, under the wings, etc.

Once the chicken has been seasoned all over the outside, the cavity has been filled with aromatics and the oven is pre-heated, place the chicken directly on top of the veggies layed out in the baking tray. The chicken will just roast directly on top of the veggies and all of the oil, butter and drippings will season the veggies really well!

Roast for one hour.

Leave to cool and carve as you like. Transfer the whole chicken onto a serving platter and surround with all of the delicious chicken fat roasted rainbow veggies.