Roast Chicken & Oven Baked Spelt Risotto

This is a fantastic way of doing a roast dinner in one dish without worrying about the timing issues that go with trying to tie together all of the different side vegetables. It’s also a true comfort food dish, perfect for eating out of a bowl in front of the fire after being out in the cold. You can also use the chicken carcass for making a lovely chicken noodle soup or a good stock which can then be frozen, but more of that another time.

Ingredients

1 x whole chicken seasoned with salt and pepper – this also works with a crown or even thighs (anything with bones in it adds to the taste, and the size depends on how many people you’re serving. Always better to have too much rather than not enough, cold chicken is lovely and very versatile).

200g (for 4 people) of pearled spelt barley i.e. 50g per person

2 peeled courgettes

300g of chestnut mushrooms

Up to 600ml fresh chicken stock

Salt & Pepper

Butter

3 garlic cloves

Light olive oil

Dried oregano, thyme, rosemary – healthy pinch of

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. You will need to check the individual packaging of the chicken to see how long it needs to be cooked for.
2. Take a very large oven proof dish and pour about 4 tablespoons of the light olive oil in it along with the dried herbs and whole peeled garlic cloves. Place the dish in the heated oven for the oil to warm and be flavoured by the herbs and garlic.
3. After around 5-10 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and take your whole chicken and roll it starting from breast side down in the hot oil so that it is roughly coated in the herbs (obviously mind your hands as the oil is hot!). Place the chicken breast side up in the dish and take a generous tablespoon of Maldon salt and rub it into the chicken. Place the dish back into the oven.

1. Wash and slice the courgettes into 4 pieces lengthways and then slice into chunks. Wash the mushrooms and slice into quarters. Put to one side. You could also add leeks if you wanted to but you’d need to chop them finely and blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes first.

 

1. Around 40 minutes to half an hour before the chicken is due to be cooked, remove the dish from the oven, add the vegetables and pour a cupful of fresh chicken stock over the chicken.

1. Rinse the spelt in a sieve under cold water and around 25-30 minutes before the end of cooking, remove the dish again and sprinkle the spelt grains around the chicken over the vegetables. Mix in and pour over the chicken another 2 cups of stock before placing back in the oven.

1. After 10 minutes, check the spelt and vegetables to make sure that the spelt is covered with stock and that the vegetables aren’t drying out. If it looks low on liquid, pour another cup of stock over the chicken and stir the spelt and vegetables to make sure they’re covered evenly. Place back in the oven.
2. Repeat after another 10 minutes, the aim is to end up with residual juice around the chicken after cooking so don’t be shy with the stock.

1. After the chickens full cooking time has elapsed, remove the chicken and with a knife, wedge the leg away from the body and check the juices. If they are not clear, the chicken is not fully cooked and must go back in the oven until they do run clear. As the dish has been in and out of the oven it may take a little longer due to the heat lost.
2. When they do run clear, keep the dish out of the oven and cover gently with foil and leave the meat to rest for 5 minutes. This helps the chicken stay moist as its juices go back into the meat (along with the basting throughout the cooking process) and dotting a few knobs of butter on the chicken and around in the spelt adds to the flavour (this isn’t essential, if you want to skip it you can but it does make the taste richer).
3. Once you are ready to serve, ladle out the spelt, vegetables and stock into bowls and using 2 forks, shred the chicken roughly into large chunks and lay on top of the spelt. You should end up with a lovely warming, rich, soupy meal and very little washing up!

Enjoy!