Ingredients
Method
1.Preheat oven to 190°C fanbake. Pat chicken dry with paper towels.
2.Break one garlic bulb into cloves; don’t peel them. Stuff a few cloves into chicken cavity along with one lemon half and one thyme sprig. Place lemon slices in a single layer in centre of roasting tray and top with remaining loose garlic cloves and thyme.
3.Place chicken, breast-side down, on top of this lemon and garlic ‘trivet’.
4.Rub soy sauce all over top of chicken. Cut top off remaining garlic bulbs to reveal the cloves. Place bulbs, cut-side up, around chicken along with remaining lemon halves (these flavours make for a delicious gravy; we also squeeze out and eat the sticky flesh from the roasted garlic bulbs – but not when we have guests!).
5.Drizzle chicken generously with olive oil, pouring a little onto garlic bulbs and lemon to prevent burning. Season chicken all over with salt and pepper.
6.Roast in the oven for approximately 50 minutes-1 hour or until juices run clear when skin is pricked with a sharp knife. (I test my chicken at the thickest part where the leg sits close to the breast; the juice should be golden and clear with no sign of redness.) Rest chicken for 15 minutes before carving.
7.Serve with mashed potatoes and apple and hazelnut slaw.
