Remember to remove your bird out of the packaging, pat dry and
bring to room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 200°C fan assisted or 215°C for ovens
without a fan.
For a traditional finish, cover the bird with dry cured streaky
bacon and tie with butchers twine. Alternatively, simply massage
some softened butter all over the bird, seasoned with sea salt,
thyme leaves and cracked white pepper.
Choose a large, heavy-based roasting tray, ideally with deep
sides and handles for easy movement.
Make a trivet by roughly chopping equal amounts of onion,
carrot and celery (or our preferred choice of celeriac, the root of
the celery) plus a bay leaf, sprig of thyme and a few black
peppercorns. Another nice addition can be a few dried fruits such
as prunes and fig popped into the bird's cavity.
Place the bird breast up onto the trivet which should line the
base of the tray.
Place in the centre of the oven and roast for 25 minutes before
adding a glass of white wine or cider and roasting for another 20
minutes on a reduced heat of 175°C fan assisted or 185ºC for ovens
without a fan.
Remove from the oven, put onto a clean tray and keep warm by
covering with a sheet of tin foil. Rest for a minimum of 10 minutes
before carving, leaving the roasted vegetables in the tray for the
gravy.
For the gravy, make up 350ml of Essential Cuisine chicken
stock, then deglaze roasting tray with a glass of red wine and
reduce to a syrup, stirring in all the caramelized juices from the
tray. Next, pass through a fine sieve pushing all the juices from
the vegetables into a clean saucepan. Bring to a simmer and thicken
if required by whisking in a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a
little cold water and reduce till you reach a rich, glossy
gravy.