Crown-roasted chicken

Ingredients

• 1 crown chicken (see Note)
• 50 ml olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• salt and black pepper
• ¼ cup chervil
• ¼ cup tarragon
• ¼ cup flat-leaf parsley
• 30 ml oil from can/jar of anchovies
• 50 g English spinach
• 1 tbsp pickling brine (from cornichons or capers)
• 3 tbsp kewpie mayonnaise
• ½ bunch celery, including inner leaves
• 1 fennel bulb
• 100 g pickled muntries (optional, see Note)
• 100 g toasted sunflower seeds
• 50 ml Chardonnay vinegar
• 1 eschallot, finely diced
• 1 lemon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Remove the wishbone from the chicken crown, then drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and rub well to coat. Place the chicken onto a baking dish and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Remove from the oven, rest upside down.
2. While the chicken is roasting, roughly chop the herbs (reserve a little for the salad!). Blanch and blitz the herbs in a food processor or blender with the anchovy oil, English spinach and pickling brine (to your taste). Sieve with a fine mesh strainer and store in an ice bath bowl and chill. Once cooled, combine the herb mixture with the kewpie mayonnaise.
3. Slice the celery and fennel. Combine the sliced vegetables in a large bowl with the muntries, sunflower seeds and reserved herbs. Combine the vinegar, eschallot and 50 ml olive oil in a medium bowl, then pour over the salad and toss gently to combine.
4. Carve the chicken and serve with salad and herb sauce.

Note

• Alternatively, you can use a whole chicken.

• To pickle the muntries, combine 150g white wine vinegar, 100g sugar and 100g water, heat to simmering point, to ensure the ingredients have dissolved, then remove from the heat. Do not boil. Place the muntries in a sterilised jar and pour over the pickling liquid, leave to cool and pickle for 2 days.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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