Roast Chicken With Madeira Gravy And Bread Sauce -

Roast Chicken With Madeira Gravy And Bread Sauce

Ingredients

50g/2oz/¼ cup butter
1 onion, chopped
75g/3oz/1½ cups fresh white breadcrumbs
Grated rind of 1 lemon
30ml/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
30ml/2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 egg yolk
1.5kg/3¼lb oven-ready chicken
175g/6oz rindless streaky (fatty) bacon rashers (strips)
Salt and ground black pepper

For the bread sauce

1 onion, studded with 6 cloves
1 bay leaf
300ml/½ pint/1¼ cups milk
150ml/¼ pint/⅔ cup single (light) cream
115g/4oz/2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs
Knob of butter

For the gravy

10ml/2 tsp plain (all-purpose) flour
300ml/½ pint/1¼ cups wellflavoured chicken stock
Dash of Madeira or sherry

Details

Serves: 4

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/ Gas 6. To make the stuffing, melt half the butter in a pan and fry the onion for 5 minutes, or until softened.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the breadcrumbs, lemon rind, parsley and half the chopped tarragon. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the egg yolk to bind the ingredients into a moist stuffing.

3. Fill the neck end of the chicken with stuffing, then truss the chicken neatly and weigh it. To calculate the cooking time, allow 20 minutes per 450g/1lb, plus 20 minutes.

4. Put the chicken in a roasting pan and season it well with salt and pepper. Beat together the remaining butter and tarragon, then smear this over the bird.

5. Lay the bacon rashers over the top of the chicken (this helps stop the light breast meat from drying out) and roast for the calculated time. Baste the bird every 30 minutes during cooking and cover with buttered foil if the bacon begins to over-brown.

6. Meanwhile, make the bread sauce. Put the clove-studded onion, bay leaf and milk in a small, heavy pan and bring slowly to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the milk to stand for at least 30 minutes so that it is gently infused with the flavouring ingredients.

7. Strain the milk into a clean pan (discard the flavouring ingredients) and add the cream and breadcrumbs. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring continuously, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Keep warm while you make the gravy and carve the chicken, then stir in the butter and season to taste just before serving.

8. Transfer the chicken to a warmed serving dish, cover tightly with foil and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

9. To make the gravy, pour off all but 15ml/1 tbsp fat from the roasting pan. Place the pan on the hob (stovetop) and stir in the flour. Cook the flour for 1 minute, or until golden brown, then stir in the stock and Madeira or sherry. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, then simmer for about 3 minutes until thickened. Add seasoning to taste and strain the gravy into a warm sauceboat.

10. Carve the chicken and serve it at once, with the stuffing, gravy and hot bread sauce.

COOK'S TIP:- To keep chicken moist during roasting, some recipes suggest cooking the bird on its sides, turning it halfway through cooking, and others place the breast down. Covering the top of the chicken breast with rashers of bacon and adding foil to prevent this from overcooking is the easiest and most effective method.

VARIATION:- Cocktail sausages which have been wrapped in thin streaky bacon rashers make a delicious accompaniment to roast chicken. Roast them alongside the chicken for the final 25-30 minutes of the cooking time.

Energy 845Kcal/3523kj; Protein 48.5g; Carbohydrate 44.2g, of which sugars 7.8g; Fat 53.9g, of which saturates 22.1g; Cholesterol 296mg; Calcium 215mg; Fibre 1.6g; Sodium 1147mg

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