Roast chicken in wine

Chickens

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

I have adapted this recipe from a Telegraph article by Xanthe Clay. It’s a lovely way to roast a chicken as it keeps it moist and produces a lovely sauce.
Ingredients
1 free range chicken
1 oz butter
1 clove of garlic
1 lemon
1 onion
stick of celery
2 or three carrots
a few extra vegetables of your choice eg leeks.
a pinch of oregano and a slurp of concentrated stock.

Method
Place the chicken in a large roasting tray. Mix the butter in a pestle and mortar with the garlic and oregano with the lemon juice and zest. Push this mixture under the skin of the chicken and over the suface of the skin. Leave the rest of the lemon in the cavity.
Pour most of the bottle of wine into the roasting tray and add the onion, celery and the other vegetables all round the chicken and add the stock. Put some foil over the top and put into a hot oven at 200C. After 45 minutes reduce the heat to 150C and cook for another 45 minutes although you have to guage this according to the size of the bird. Take the foil off and brown the top. You may have to turn the heat up at the end.
Take the chicken out of the tray to rest. Spoon off any fat from the liquid.
Use a food liquidiser to liquidise the vegetable mix into a delicious thick sauce.
Serve with potatoes and cabbage or your own choice.