Prep time: 15 mins /Cook time: 1 hour /Serves: 4 – 6

You will need:

• 1 large organic chicken
• 25ml extra virgin olive oil
• a generous handful of fresh thyme, washed
• 2 large lemons
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• Coarse ground sea salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of Terra Madre “Rockin’ Chilli” sauce or two large red chillies, finely chopped
• 250ml Blanc de Noir or dry white wine

Preheat your oven to 220°C. Wash off the chicken and pat it dry with paper towel. Crush or grate the garlic cloves and zest both lemons before extracting their juice. Keep the juiced lemon halves to stuff the chicken with.

In a mixing jug or bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon juice and zest, crushed garlic and chilli sauce and season to taste. Using a sharp knife, remove the preening glands (the two small yellowish nodules) from the chicken’s tail and loosen the skin over the breasts to create small pockets. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the thyme and as many lemon halves as you can make fit. Place the chicken in a roasting dish and spoon over the marinade, being careful to poke the garlic and chilli into the pockets between breast and skin. Set the chicken breast-side down in the dish and pour the Blanc de Noir around the bird. Cover the entire dish with foil and roast in a preheated 220°C oven for 20 minutes before removing the foil and turning the oven down to 180°C for the remaining 40 minutes. The wine in the bottom of the dish will thicken with the roasting juices and get syrupy – perfect for mopping up with fresh bread. If halfway through cooking the dish requires more liquid, simply add in more wine or a little water and continue to roast.