Crowd-Pleasing Pot-Roast Chicken

September marks the start of cosy nights in and warming autumnal meals. Kick off the season in style with cookery editor Lesley Tumulty’s hearty chicken pot roast?

Pot-roast chicken
This is my mum’s recipe and a real crowd-pleaser. You can easily feed eight hungry people, as long as you add plenty of root vegetables. It’s important that you use a really good, large, free-range chicken from the butcher; ask them to remove the wishbone as it makes life so much simpler when you go to carve. Serves 4-8.

YOU WILL NEED * 1 large free-range chicken (about 2.3kg) * 30g butter * 150ml dry white wine * 4 carrots, peeled, topped, tailed and halved * 4 sticks celery, cut into large chunks * 1 large onion, chopped * 4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole * sprig of thyme * 150ml water * salt and pepper

METHOD
1 Melt butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over a medium heat. Hold your nerve – you’re looking for the butter to turn nut-brown but not burn. 2 As soon as you’ve achieved the right colour, season the chicken generously with salt and pepper, and place, breast down, into the melted butter. Get a really good golden colour, which should take 6-8 minutes. 3 Keep the chicken moving to avoid sticking. When it’s turned a rich golden colour, flip it onto its back. 4 Add white wine and turn up heat to let the alcohol boil off (2-3 minutes). Toss in the remaining ingredients, add water, put lid on (or cover with tin foil) and reduce heat. Leave it at a gentle simmer for around 1.5 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. 5 Serve with braised red cabbage and creamy mashed potatoes.

Let us know how this treat of a chicken recipe turns out for you! Share your tips on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Recipe Lesley Tumulty. Photography Nathalie Marquez Courtney. Styling Marlene Wessels.

Fancy a boozy twist on the autumnal warmer? Try our Autumn in New York recipe for a spicy, cidery pick-me-up.

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