Roast chicken with leeks, peppers and olives

Name: Roast chicken with leeks, peppers and olives
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: Serves 4-6
Cuisine: Mediterranean recipes
Ingredients: 1 lemon; 50g butter, softened; 4 anchovy fillets in oil, drained; Large handful flatleaf parsley, plus a little extra to serve; 2 fat garlic cloves; 1.8kg free-range chicken; 2 long peppers, halved lengthways, deseeded; 4 small leeks (or 2 large), cut into chunks; Extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle; 150ml white wine, plus a glug; 400g tin cannellini beans, lightly drained; 100g mixed olives, pitted and drained; 150g sourdough bread, cut into cubes (about 2 slices)

Portion size: Serves 4-6
Hands-on time 15 min. Oven time 1 hour 30 min.
Difficulty: easy

Jen Bedloe

Former head of food, delicious.

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Roast chicken goes on holiday to the Med in this recipe full of sunshine flavours. Serve roast chicken with leeks for a spring Sunday lunch or an easy alternative to lamb on Easter Sunday.

If you’ve been foraging for wild garlic this spring, take a look at our wild garlic roast chicken recipe.

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Ingredients

1 lemon
50g butter, softened
4 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
Large handful flatleaf parsley, plus a little extra to serve
2 fat garlic cloves
1.8kg free-range chicken
2 long peppers, halved lengthways, deseeded
4 small leeks (or 2 large), cut into chunks
Extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle
150ml white wine, plus a glug
400g tin cannellini beans, lightly drained
100g mixed olives, pitted and drained
150g sourdough bread, cut into cubes (about 2 slices)

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Method

Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Grate the lemon zest, then whizz it with the butter, anchovy fillets, parsley and garlic in a food processor, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Make a pocket under the skin of the chicken breasts, then push the flavoured butter under and rub the rest over the skin and legs. Put in a roasting tin with the peppers and leeks. Halve the zested lemon and squeeze over the juice, then put one half inside the chicken cavity and the other in the tin. Drizzle with oil and season with salt. Pour in the 150ml wine and 150ml water, then roast for 1 hour 10 minutes.
Remove the bird, toss the beans, olives and sourdough with the veg in the tin, coating well in the cooking juices, then add a glug of wine and more seasoning for the beans. Replace the chicken and roast for 10-15 minutes more until the chicken is cooked through.
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Put the bird on a board to rest, loosely covered. Put the tin back in the oven if the bread needs more crisping.
Serve the bird with the beans, veg and sourdough mixture with the juices spooned over. Scatter with chopped parsley to serve.