Juicy Butter Roast Chicken with Romesco & Jammy Bell Peppers

Ingredients

Butter Roast Chicken:

4 large bell peppers, cut into thick wedges
4 shallots, peeled and cut in half
1 bunch thyme (about 10g), sprigs picked
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 lemon, cut in half
227g Lewis Road Creamery Salted Butter, softened
1 whole medium-sized chicken



Romesco Sauce:

½ cup walnuts
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil

Method

• 1

  Preheat your oven to 210°C fan bake. Set aside a large roasting dish

• 2

  Cut peppers in half, remove the seeds, then cut flesh into thick wedges. Peel and cut shallots into quarters, pick thyme sprigs and cut lemon in half. Melt half of the butter and set the remaining butter aside for the chicken. Toss peppers, shallots, half of the thyme sprigs, and the chilli flakes together in a large roasting dish with the melted butter and juice of half the lemon. Season well with salt and pepper and set aside

• 3

  Pat chicken dry with a paper towel. Using your fingertips, rub the remaining softened butter all over the chicken. Season chicken well all over with salt and pepper. Place chicken on top of the peppers. Stuff the chicken cavity with the remaining lemon half and remaining sprigs of thyme

• 4

  Roast on the lower middle oven rack for 65-80 minutes, until chicken is cooked through, and the skin is very golden. Baste the chicken with the juices from the pan at least twice during cooking. Rest chicken for about 15 minutes, before carving

• 5

  While the chicken rests, make the romesco sauce. Remove roughly a third of the roasted peppers form the roasting dish and add to a large bowl, along with about ¼ cup of the resting juices from the roasting dish. Add walnuts, juice of half a lemon, smoked paprika, garlic, olive oil and a pinch of salt to the bowl. Using a stick blender, blitz everything together for about 2 minutes, until smooth. Blitz in 2-3 Tbsp water, if the sauce is too thick

• 6

  Serve chicken with roasted peppers and romesco sauce. Spoon over juices from the roasting dish