A special Sunday lunch

This week’s cooking with the Bridge House’s award winning chef Paddy Kennedy features a traditional Sunday Lunch

Traditional roast stuffed chicken Dinner

Ingredients Serves 4-6

1 Whole Chicken 1600g approx.

Stuffing

25g butter

1 Shallot peeled and finely diced

1 Clove Garlic peeled

1 Tsp. dried mixed herbs

1 Bunch fresh parsley stalks remove and chopped

100g Fresh breadcrumbs

1 Tbsp. brown sauce

1 Orange

To make the Stuffing

In a small pot melt the butter and add the shallots and garlic, cook until soft and add the mixed herbs, brown sauce and breadcrumbs

Squeeze juice of half the orange into the stuffing

Season with salt and pepper

Mix well and set aside to cool

Place the stuffing in the centre of the chicken and place on a roasting tin, brush with some oil and season with salt and milled pepper.

Cooking time for Roast chicken is approx. one hour at 150C

To enhance the flavour place a couple of streaky rashers across the top the chicken before cooking.

Keep an eye on the chicken during cooking and if the top skin is getting too crispy, cover it with a little tin foil and turn down the oven.

Check that the chicken is cooked by piercing with a carving fork ant the juices released should be clear also twist the bone of the drumstick and it should dislocate easily when the chicken is fully cooked.

When the chicken is cooked remove form roasting tin and pour off excess fat.

Add a half glass of red wine and some water and stir well with a wooden spoon to dissolve all the cooking sediment

Pass through a fine sieve into a small pot; thicken with a little gravy mix or some ‘beurre maine’ which is a little butter and flour mixed together.

Roast potatoes

Peel about 12 small potatoes and place in boiling water with a little salt.

Boil gently for about fifteen minutes to ‘Par cook’

Add the potatoes to the roasting tray with the chicken during cooking.

Roll them in the fat to get the flavour into them.

Carrot and parsnip puree

100g Carrots

100g Parsnips

25g Real butter

1 Pinch nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Peel and roughly chop the carrots and parsnips and place into a pot of boiling water.

Cook for about thirty minutes and drain off

Mash with a potato masher and add the butter

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Braised spring cabbage

1 Head of young spring cabbage

1 Medium sized onion

50g Butter

1 Sprig thyme

1 Streaky rasher

Method

Salt and pepper

Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and cut in half through.

Remove the stalk and slice as thinly as possible

Peel the onion cut in half and slice fine as possible.

Place the cabbage ,onion and butter in a pot with the thyme and add a little water

Season with a little salt and pepper

Cover with a lid and simmer for about thirty minutes until soft

Bread Sauce

Bread sauce is an old classic accompaniment of roast chicken and is made by boiling about 250ml of milk with a little diced onion and add about 20g fresh breadcrumbs and 20g butter season with a little salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Enjoy

from Paddy Kennedy, award winning chef at the Bridge House Hotel