Spanish-style roast chicken

Spanish-style roast chicken by Sophie Wright (Jemma Watts)

Ingredients

50g butter
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 whole chicken, weighing 2.25kg
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the roasted vegetables

2 red peppers, cut into 5cm pieces
2 red onions, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons pitted black olives
500g baby new potatoes
125g cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil

This smoky, garlicky roast chicken makes a brilliant midweek supper. It's packed with flavour, and whatever is left can be used for a whole host of other dishes

Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. Cut the butter into small pieces and put in a bowl. Add the paprika, lemon zest, oregano and garlic and squish all the ingredients together until the butter is soft and everything is well incorporated. Season the butter with salt and pepper. Rub the butter all over the skin of the chicken and under the skin if you wish.

Remove the string or elastic from the chicken and put it in a deep roasting tin. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil and put in the oven for 10 minutes before turning the oven down to 190C/Gas 5. Remember to baste the chicken with the butter, some of which will have melted into the baking tray, every 20–30 minutes.

To make the roasted vegetables place all the vegetables in a large bowl and coat well in the paprika, oregano, salt and pepper and the olive oil.

Once the chicken has cooked for 40 minutes, take it out of the oven and scatter the veggies around the outside. This will be a good time to baste the bird again and coat all the vegetables in the juices. Put the tray back into the oven and cook for the remaining 45 minutes. If the vegetables are over-colouring, put a sheet of kitchen foil over the baking tray for the final 20 minutes of cooking.

When the time is up, check that everything is cooked perfectly, remove the chicken from the roasting tin and leave it to rest for at least 10 minutes. Keep the vegetables warm in a low oven. Carve and serve with the vegetables and all the lovely cooking juices.

Taken from 'Cook on a Shoestring' by Sophie Wright (Kyle Books, £15.99)