Roast chicken dinner

The great British Sunday roast ... but chicken, rather than the traditional beef.  Actually, beef would come way down my list of favourite Sunday roasts, with chicken, lamb and pork all coming higher for me.  (I'm also very partial to our latest "discovery" of stuffed butternut squash, for a vegetarian Sunday roast - yum!)

From top left, clockwise:  chicken drumstick, breast meat, roasted red onion, roast potatoes, curly kale, carrots, leeks in cheesy sauce, roast parsnips ... all topped off with a little chicken gravy.  The chicken was a British free-range one, which I stuffed with a quartered red onion and herbs, then sprinkled with salt, black pepper and smoked paprika.  The onion, potatoes and parsnips were roasted in the same tin and the gravy made from the juices (fat skimmed off).  The carrots were simply boiled, on this occasion (although I prefer them steamed, but they were still very nice) and the kale "steamed" over a little water and butter.

The leeks were sauteed in butter and black pepper, plain flour added to the pan when they were almost cooked (to make a roux), then milk and brought to the boil (stirring constantly) and finally grated cheese.  It was all then put into an ovenproof dish for the top to brown - a delicious accompaniment to almost any dish, particularly a roast dinner like this one.