less than 30 mins
1 to 2 hours
Serves 4-6
From The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1 chicken, about 1.5kg/3lb 5oz
- 55g/2oz butter or 2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3–4 smoked bacon rashers (optional)
For the sauce
- 20g/1oz dried morel mushrooms, soaked overnight in 500ml/18fl oz whole milk
- 35g/1¼oz butter
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine
- 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
Method
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Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Rub the chicken with the butter (or oil) and season with salt and pepper.
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Place the bacon rashers over the breast (if using). Place the chicken in a roasting tin and roast for 1–1¼hours. The chicken is cooked if the juices run clear when you insert a skewer between the thigh and breast.
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About halfway through the cooking time for the chicken, make the sauce. Drain the soaked mushrooms through a sieve lined with muslin (or other clean fine-meshed cloth) to remove any sand or grit. Set the liquid aside.
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Wash the mushrooms carefully and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
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Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour, stirring it well for about a minute. Gradually add the wine, stirring all the time and taking care not to let the sauce burn.
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Add the mushroom liquid to the sauce very slowly so that it doesn’t curdle, then add the mushrooms and cook for about 20 minutes.
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Add the double cream to the sauce and heat through gently. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
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Carve the chicken and place it on a serving platter. Pour over the juices from the roasting pan and serve with the morel sauce.