Roast chicken with mushroom stuffing recipe

Who doesn't love a roast chicken dinner? Well you may love this one even more with stuffing made from wild mushrooms, lemon juice, prosciutto and crème fraîche

Ingredients

1 small free-range chicken, weighing around 1.2kg

For the stuffing:

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 200g wild mushrooms (ceps, girolles or chanterelles), roughly chopped
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• 2tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• 1 stick fresh lemongrass, very finely sliced
• 2tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced to a pulp
• 2 slices prosciutto, finely chopped
• 1tbsp half-fat crème fraîche
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan until really hot, then add the mushrooms and fry until they are golden. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the stuffing ingredients, including the warm mushrooms. Taste, then season thoroughly with pepper and a little salt.
4. Next, run your fingers between the skin and flesh of the chicken, starting with the breasts and ending up with the legs. Be gentle as you separate the skin from the flesh – you need to avoid ripping the skin.
5. Spread the stuffing generously all over the flesh of the bird, securing it with the skin so that none runs out. I find it helps to tie the legs together.
6. Put the chicken in a baking tray at the bottom of the oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Rest for 15 minutes before serving and spoon the juices over as gravy.