Scarborough Fair Chicken

I am a Simon & Garfunkel fan, a child of the 70's and 80's, and who couldn't resist the delectable, young, Dustin Hoffman in 'The Graduate' ! I found the movie unusually funny in places...and at the time I thought the story beyond absurd....am I alone in thinking this?.....or maybe I had been leading a very naive and sheltered Irish existence and didn't understand that these things actually went on in the real world and not just in the movies!

The sound track to the movie was by the wonderful Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel who introduced me, not personally I might add, to the glories of traditional folk music. One of my favourites from the movie is  'Scarborough Fair'. which is an ancient folk balled from the late 1600's to the mid 1700's, no one seems quite sure which. Scarborough itself is a seaside town on the east coast of England, in Yorkshire to be precise, and a lovely little town it is too with a fortified castle overlooking the sea that is well worth a visit. Sadly Scarborough Fair no longer exists as this momentous fair...it was held for 45 days!...ended in 1788...there has been some effort at reviving the tradition on a somewhat smaller scale of course and it's usually held in September.

Traditionally a 'fair' or 'fayre' was a place where traders and farmers would gather to buy and sell livestock, wares and any excess of home produce not specifically needed by the family such as eggs, butter, cheese, wool and livestock. Back then all homes were pretty much self sufficient but one of the things housewives would buy at the fair would be chickens, albeit live ones! which she would take home and either raise them to produce eggs for either eating or to provide more hens.

This is a very tasty way of cooking a chicken and is an extremely simple dish, but packed with maximum flavour from the assorted herbs which blend so well with the orange. If you can roast a chicken you can master this and it's a perfect Sunday lunch meal.

If you can't get flat parsley you can substitute with curly and a stalk of celery for added flavour.

You will need......feeds 4 - 6 people

1.5 - 2kg whole, oven ready chicken
3 medium oranges....try and get really juicy ones
50 - 80g butter plus an additional 100 g which you should dice and keep well chilled
4 sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme
6 - 8 sage leaves
small handful of flat parsley with stalks attached
500mls water
sea salt, fresh black pepper
1 shot of Cointreau if you can get it

How to....

There is one simple rule when working with chicken...have a sink or bowl filled with hot soapy water, anytime you touch the chicken you must scrub your hands before handling anything else.... also you must scrub anything that touches the raw chicken like the chopping board or knives etc. I always try to do any work to the chicken in the actual roasting tray rather than use a chopping board.

• pre-heat the oven to 160oC
• unpack the chicken and lay it in a deep sided roasting tin
• remove any string from the chicken then rub the butter all over
• peel the rind from 2 of the oranges,,,I find a potato peeler a good tool for doing this....then squeeze the juice and set aside, keep the shells
• grate the zest from the last orange and set aside
• pack the cavity of the chicken with the sage leaves and the parsley...there is no need to chop them, just stuff them in
• take the orange that hasn't been squeezed, cut into quarters and push into the neck of the cavity
• cut up the juiced shells and scatter around the chicken, 
• scatter the orange peel and some more rosemary and thyme over the chicken
• season with salt and pepper
• add 500 mls of water to the tray then place the chicken in the oven
• roasting this chicken will take a bit longer than usual because of the low temperature so work it out as 25 minutes per 500 g of meat plus and additional 20 minutes.... therefore a 2kg chicken could take roughly 2 hours...if you have a meat thermometer do use it, cooking the chicken this way gives a deliciously moist and tender bird
• when cooked, remove from the oven, discard all the herbs and peel from the top of the chicken and the bits of orange from the inside, try and get as much stuff out of the cavity as you can
• transfer the chicken to a platter or large plate, cover and keep warm...tin foil will do the job here
• place the roasting tin on the stove top and bring and remaining juices to the boil
• scrape off any sediment from the bottom of the pan, add more water or some chicken stock if you feel you need extra juice to make the gravy
• now add the Cointreau if you have it and boil for a minute
• strain this liquid into a clean saucepan and bring to the boil again
• whisk in the cubes of diced, chilled butter, as you whisk a sauce will form, keep whisking 
• when all the butter has been dissolved into the liquid add in the orange zest whisk well and serve your 'jus' immediately