Roast Chicken, Sticky Roast Potatoes & Cauliflower Cheese

Yesterday I bought a huge free range organic Sherwood White Chicken from my local butchers and simply roasted it in the form of Lemon Chicken from Feast: Food That Celebrates Life by Nigella Lawson.  

This has to be one of my favourite ways to roast a chicken, especially with side dishes of sticky herby roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese, also adapted from the recipes in Feast: Food That Celebrates Life.  

I also like to put some finely chopped herbs and butter under the chickens skin, which I think imparts a lovely flavour, keeps the breast meat super moist and helps lend a lovely brown colouring to the skin.  The lemon fragrance that comes through is very subtle but certainly noticeable.

The sticky potatoes are almost a cross between mash and roasties, now I obviously can’t speak for you but that is my idea of potato heaven.  Fluffy but crisp, lightly flavoured mouthfuls of deliciousness.  Yesterday I omitted the garlic as I didn’t want to overpower the flavour of the chicken, seeing as I’d bought a rare breed bird.  

Cauliflower is one of my favourite vegetables, and I thought I’d make the most of the one from my organic vegetable box delivery by submerging it in a blanket of velvety, luscious creamy cheese sauce.  The way this cauliflower is cooked allows for it to soften but remain firm and not in the slightest watery, which is what can easily happen if it is simply boiled and then coated in the sauce at the end.