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Roast chicken with sherry-sautéed morels
Serves 2-4 Starters and mains
For the roast chicken
- 1 chicken (around 2.3kg)
- 1⁄2tsp garlic powder
- 1⁄4tsp thyme, ground
- 1⁄4tsp dried rosemary, crushed
- 1⁄4tsp oregano, ground
- 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 360ml good-quality chicken stock
- 120ml cream sherry
- crusty bread, to serve
For the sherry-sautéed morels
- 55g unsalted butter
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- 115g fresh morels
- 120ml cream sherry
Method
To brine the chicken, stir together 1 litre warm water and 3tbsp table salt in a large bowl until the salt has dissolved. Place the chicken in a large resealable plastic bag and then add the brine to the bag. Seal it, place the bag in a casserole dish for storing ease, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to
220C/425F/Gas 7. Remove the
chicken from the brine, rinse it
and pat it dry.
In a small bowl, mix together 1tsp sea salt flakes, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary and oregano. Coat the chicken inside and out with the oil, then the salt mixture.
Place the chicken in a small roasting pan and pour in the stock and sherry. Roast for 30 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and roast until a thermometer inserted into the chicken thigh reads at least 75C/165F, an additional 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, basting the bird every 15 minutes and adding water to the pan as needed to maintain at least 2.5cm of liquid.
During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, prepare the morels. In a large frying pan, melt the butter over a medium-to-low heat. Add the onion and 1⁄4tsp sea salt flakes and cook for around 5 minutes, until the onion softens, stirring just once.
Add the morels and stir to coat in the butter. Cook, stirring every few minutes, for around 10-14 minutes, until the onion becomes lightly golden around the edges and the morels darken in colour.
Add the sherry to the pan and cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes more, until the liquid has reduced by around one-third and is brown in colour.
Spoon out 3tbsp of the pan juices from the roasting pan and add it to the morels. Cook for a further 5 minutes, then add 60ml of the pan juices to the morels, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and remove from the heat.
Transfer the entire morel mixture into the roasting pan around the chicken. Taste the roasting pan juices and season with salt as needed. Carve the rested bird and drizzle the pan juices over it. Serve with hunks of crusty bread.
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