Jamie drizzling honey on top of a fig tart

Share your review and contribute to our community!

Save and access your favourite recipes and products.

Enter the email address associated with your account, and we’ll email you a link to reset your password.

Password Strength

Must contain at least

*Enter your email to receive news and exclusive offers from Jamie Oliver Limited about Jamie's businesses, including books, TV shows, restaurants, products, commercial partners and campaigning activities. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use . Learn how we collect, use and share your data in our Privacy Policy .

Cart item

Just Added

View bag
Chicken in pastry
Save recipe

Chicken in a crust

Herby mushroom butter

Chicken in pastry
Save recipe

2 hrs 40 mins
Showing Off

serves 10

About the recipe

Cooking a whole chicken in a pastry crust will give you the most incredible flavour and beautifully tender results. It also looks brilliantly bonkers, so it makes the most fantastic centrepiece for a meal to impress your friends and family. Simply crack off and discard the crust, revealing that super-juicy bird hidden inside. Heaven.


nutrition per serving

Calories

g

Fat

g

Saturates

g

Sugars

g

Salt

g

Protein

g

Carbs

g

Fibre

of an adult’s reference intake


Recipe From

Jamie's Friday Night Feast Cookbook

Jamie's Friday Night Feast Cookbook

By Jamie Oliver

Ingredients

20g dried porcini mushrooms

1 clove of garlic

120g wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles, girolles

olive oil

½ a bunch of fresh thyme (15g)

1 x 2.5kg whole free-range chicken

2kg plain flour

½ a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley (15g)

truffle oil

170g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

Method

  1. In a small bowl, just cover the porcini with boiling water and leave to rehydrate for 10 minutes while you peel and finely slice the garlic and tear up the wild mushrooms. Place both in a frying pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  2. Strip in the thyme leaves and fry it all for 5 to 8 minutes, or until golden, stirring occasionally. Roughly chop the porcini and add to the pan, then pour in their soaking liquor (discarding just the last gritty bit).
  3. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until thickened and reduced, then season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper. Leave to cool.
  4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Remove the chicken from the fridge and let it come up to room temperature.
  5. Place the flour in a bowl, then gradually pour in 1.2 litres of ice-cold water, stirring continuously until combined. Use your hands to bring it together into a soft, elastic dough, then cover with a damp tea towel and put aside.
  6. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a board with the top leafy half of the parsley, add a few drops of truffle oil, then roughly chop together. Scrape into a bowl, then squidge and mix in the butter.
  7. Carefully lift up and push your fingers or a spoon between the chicken breast and skin on both sides of the bird to create pockets for your flavoured butter – be careful not to rip the skin.
  8. Rub most of the butter on to the breast meat, then replace the skin and massage the remaining butter all over. Tie the legs together with string.
  9. Roll out one third of the dough into a rectangle 1cm thick and just slightly bigger than the chicken, then sit the chicken on top. Roll out the remainder of the dough to 1cm thick and big enough to cover the chicken. Place the dough over the top, pressing the edges together to create a sealed parcel.
  10. Place in a large roasting tray and cook in the oven for 1 hour 40 minutes – be exact with your timings, as you won’t be able to check whether it’s cooked until you carve the crust open.
  11. Remove to a board to rest for 30 minutes, then break open the crust with a knife and discard (you don’t eat the crust). Check that the chicken is cooked through, then carve it up and serve. Perfect with creamy mash and steamed seasonal greens.

Tags

Recipes you may like

related features