Lorraine Pascale's Chicken with Lemon, Thyme and Butternut Squash

Everybody likes a Sunday roast, but when there’s only one or two of you, it’s unappealing to fork out for a whole chicken. That’s why this Lorraine Pascale recipe really jumped out, allowing you to cater for as many, or as few as you need. The results were great, tender chicken with a crispy herby skin, and surprisingly tasty butternut squash (I’ve always found it terribly disappointing in the past). I added buttered curly kale and drizzled it all with the lovely chicken stock gravy.

This is the first recipe that I have tried from Lorraine’s ‘Baking Made Easy’ book and I was pleased to see that there were proper meals, not just lot’s of cakes and biscuits. The great thing about this book is that each recipe is set out step by step, with no cheffy jargon, so very easy to understand for the newbie cook like me (The only little criticism that I would have is that there’s not many pictures, I like to eat with my eyes first!!).

From ‘Baking Made Easy’

Serves 2

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 chicken pieces with skin on (I used thighs)

½ butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into large chunks

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped

Small handful of fresh thyme leaves

4 cloves of garlic, squashed but left unpeeled

zest of ½ lemon

½ glass of white wine

1 tbsp plain flour

150ml chicken stock

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Drizzle half the oil on to the chicken and season. Put them with the skin side down in a roasting tin and cook for 10 minutes.
2. In another roasting tin, put the squash and drizzle with the other half of the oil.
3. Remove the chicken from the oven and turn it down to 170C. Turn the chicken pieces skin side up. Sprinkle both the chicken and squash with the rosemary, thyme, garlic and lemon zest, then put them both in the oven for 30 minutes, (turning the squash pieces over half way through) until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the oven, and put the chicken pieces onto a plate with the garlic. Cover the plate with baking parchment and set aside.
4. To make the sauce, tip away all but 1 tbsp of the fat from the chicken juices in the tin. Place the tin over the hob on a medium heat, add the wine and cook until the mixture has reduced to 1 ½ tablespoons. Stir in the flour until there are no lumps. Then add the stock, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to the boil then remove from the heat. Pass the mixture through a sieve and taste to check whether any seasoning is required. Remove the squash from the oven, and serve everything drizzled over with the sauce.

Culinary Know How: FRESHER

Budget: UNDER £6

Kitchen Requirements: TWO ROASTING TINS, SEIVE, LARGE SAUCEPAN.