This is one of our larger chickens (12lbs in weight) about to be enjoyed. It has simply been stuffed with chopped bacon, onion, bread crumbs, egg and suet, covered with a few bacon rashers, wrapped in tinfoil & roasted for 20 minutes per pound @ 190°C , then given a final 20 minutes

Another simple idea is to stuff the chicken with a couple of lemons quartered then cook as above.

In a recent article Sue Lawrence gave the following recipe which she frequently uses with our chicken

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Haggis ©
As first published in Sue Lawrence's column in Scotland on Sunday, 19January2003.

1 very large traditionally reared chicken
1 haggis
4tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Work out cooking time adding in weight of haggis. Split open haggis and stuff (discard casing) & stuff inside the bird, so that it is only about ½ full.
Set in a roasting tin, slowly pour over the oil then season well with sea salt & ground pepper.
Cover with a loose foil tent & place in a preheated oven (220°C/425°F/Gas7) for 20 mins then reduce to 180°C/350°F/Gas4 & continue to cook for a further 20 mins per 500g. Remove foil an hour before end of cooking and baste every 20 mins.
Once it is done (check by inserting skewer into thickest part: the juices should run clear), remove to carving dish, loosely cover with foil and leave to rest for 20 mins or so while you make the gravy. Serve with roast potatoes, bashed neeps and stir-fried cabbage




Many thanks to Gordon Ramsay for the following suggestion

Mediterranean Olive and Lemon Chicken ©

One large roasting bird about 3kg
Olive oil for brushing
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh Thyme
Juice of 1 large lemon
250ml chicken stock (you could use the giblets for this)
Sea salt and ground black pepper

Sauce:
1x30g pack fresh basil leaves
50g pinenuts
2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon freshly grated Pecorino cheese (optional)

Untruss the bird and pull out the giblet bag. Rub the bird all over with oil, scatter with the thyme leaves, sprinkle with lemon juice and season well. Cover the breast with foil. Heat the oven to 200°C Gas 6. Roast the bird for 20-30 minutes then turn down to 180°C, Gas 4 and cook for another two hours or until the flesh is cooked when pierced between the leg and thigh. Remove the foil for the last 45 minutes

Pesto: Pick the thick stalks from the basil but leave the thinner ones. Whizz all the sauce ingredients, except the oil, in a food processor until it looks like wet sand. Then with the machine running, slowly trickle in the oil until it looks like a thick paste. No need for salt but you might add some pepper. Mix half the pesto sauce into the stock and reheat until just on the point of boiling. .

Let the bird stand for 15 minutes before carving, then serve with tatties or pasta and the sauce.

A family favourite is
Chicken stuffed with Mango & Cranberries

This can either be made with a whole chicken boned out, or quite often I simply use the whole breast of a large chicken (including skin). I do not stick rigidly to any amounts for this recipe and at Christmas I usually freeze extra cranberries so that I have them on hand to use all year round. My eldest son thinks this is the ultimate in leftovers!

1 boned chicken or chicken breast
1 mango
Around 150-200 g cranberries
Bread crumbs (4 or 5 slices of bread)
1 egg

Peel and chop the mango into approximate ½ inch chunks and mix together with bread crumbs, cranberries and egg (if anyone is allergic to egg it can simply be omitted). Then put the mixture into the centre of the chicken and carefully place in a suitable sized casserole dish - so that it is sitting with stuffing underneath by the chicken, as if it was a normal stuffed chicken. Cover loosely with foil and cook for 20 minutes at 220°C/425°F then turn down to 190°C/375°F and cook for 20 minutes per pound (including stuffing). Check it is cooked by inserting a skewer: juices should run clear.

Can be served hot or cold; simply slice carefully into portions around 1 - 1½ inches thick (across the breast so that each slice contains part of the stuffing)

Leftovers

There lots of things you can do with leftover chicken; salads, sandwiches, lasagne, fried chicken, curry and eventually delicious stock with the bones just to mention a few. One of my favourites is curried chicken, which can be used for salad or sandwiches : simply chop chicken roughly, and mix with mayonnaise, grated apple and curry powder to taste. You can even fill vol-eu-vent cases with this.

I would like to thank Sue Lawrence and Gordon Ramsay for allowing us to use their recipes on this page.

Our chickens are available from selected outlets in Edinburgh and Lothians. For more details Tel. 07980008887