roast chicken is my favourite, there are a few recipes for it on here but I think so far this is my favourite. the chicken was so juicy and just melted in my mouth it was amazing. I gently pulled the skin away from the meat and rubbed the butter underneath it and on top of it so the flavours went straight into the meat. I used pear cider but I think normal apple cider would work too or even some chicken stock. I love sage it is my favourite herb. now that the summer is coming to the end this is the perfect dish to cook to warm you up.

butter

• 125g butter
• 3 gloves of garlic
• 10 sage leaves
• salt and pepper

chicken

• 1 large chicken
• 1 red onion
• 4 pears
• 1 bottle of pear or apple cider
• 3 garlic cloves
• salt and pepper
• 5 sage leaves

chop the garlic and sage in a food processor so it is finely cut then mix with the softened butter and add salt and pepper. put your hand between the skin and the breasts of the chicken and gently pull the skin away from the meat to make a space between the two then take half of the butter and stuff it in, then rub the rest of the butter all over the chicken. slice the onion and put it at the bottom of the pan with the garlic, then place the chicken on top and tuck the pears in around the chicken, pour in the cider and add some more salt and pepper on the chicken then loosely cover with tin foil so that is isn’t touching the chicken, and cook according to the package (this chicken needed 1 hour 35 minutes so I baked it covered for 1 hour and uncovered for the final 35 minutes.

in a pan crisp some sage in a pan with a little oil and put on the chicken and baste with the pan juices.