Roast chicken, marjoram butter and roast tomatoes
I'm particularly fond of marjoram because it is highly aromatic, with a gorgeous sweet, lemony, peppery flavour that packs a punch. It's an ingredient that should be used with discretion due to its pungency. Marjoram is most at home in Mediterranean cooking and works well with vegetables, tomato dishes, chicken, lamb, goat, seafood, sausages and stuffings. Marjoram grows well in pots and likes to sit on window sills.
Ingredients
50g butter, softened
1 tbsp chopped marjoram
plus 5 sprigs
Salt and pepper
1 free-range chicken, about 1.5kg
1 lemon, cut in half
½ whole head garlic
Olive oil
8 large vine-ripened truss tomatoes
Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Mix butter with chopped marjoram and season. Remove wishbone from chicken* and carefully separate skin from the chicken breast, starting from the bottom of the chicken. Rub marjoram butter over the breast with your fingers. Place marjoram sprigs, lemon and garlic inside chicken cavity. Truss, season and drizzle chicken with a little olive oil.
* Removing the wishbone makes the chicken easier to carve once cooked but this is an optional step.
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