Roast Chicken with Cider and Lardons

Ingredients

• 1 whole free-range chicken
• Potatoes, cut into chunks
• Onions, cut into wedges
• 1 leek, sliced
• Carrots, cut into chunks
• A few cloves garlic
• Fresh thyme
• Olive oil (a generous amount)
• Maldon salt
• Smoked lardons
• Magners (or other hard apple cider)

Directions

• In a roasting tray, add the potatoes, onions, leek, carrots, and thyme. Throw in a few cloves of garlic, a generous amount of olive oil, and a good amount of Maldon salt.
• Set the chicken on top of the vegetables, season with salt, and stuff the cavity with fresh thyme.
• Fry off the lardons until browned (this adds a smoky flavor), then scatter them over the chicken.
• Pour in the hard apple cider.
• Roast at gas mark 6 (about 375F) for about an hour, until the skin is golden, crispy, and bubbling.
• Remove the chicken and flip it over so the underside gets some color. Return the vegetables to the oven and roast another 10-15 minutes while the chicken rests. If the vegetables have too much liquid, reduce it down.
• Carve the chicken and serve on a large platter with the vegetables.

Method captured from the video. From Corre Larkin on Instagram.