Name: One-pan roast butter chicken
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 lemon halved; 1 medium chicken; 100g soft unsalted butter; 2 garlic cloves crushed; small piece ginger finely grated; 1 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp turmeric; 1 tsp ground cloves; handful coriander leaves chopped; 3 garlic cloves finely grated; small piece ginger finely grated; 4 cardamom pods; 4 cloves; 1 tsp fennel seeds; 2 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp hot chilli powder; 2 tsp turmeric; 500ml passata; 200ml double cream

One-pan roast butter chicken on a serving platter

1 lemon
halved
1 medium chicken

For the curry butter

100g soft unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves
crushed
small piece ginger
finely grated
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cloves
handful coriander leaves
chopped

For the sauce

3 garlic cloves
finely grated
small piece ginger
finely grated
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric
500ml passata
200ml double cream

Method

step 1
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Put the lemon halves in the chicken cavity. Stir all the ingredients for the curry butter together and season with salt and lots of pepper. Use your fingers to stuff the curry butter under the skin and smear it all over the meat.
step 2
Place the chicken in a flameproof roasting tin, on a trivet, if you have one. Roast for 20 mins, then turn the oven down to 180C/160C/gas 4. Continue to roast for 40 mins, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the tin and leave to rest while you make the sauce.
step 3
If your roasting tin is flameproof, place it directly on the heat, if not, scrape all the buttery goodness from the tin into a saucepan and set over a low heat to make the sauce. Gently sweat the garlic and ginger in the curry butter. Scatter in the cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds and cook for 2 mins, then add the ground spices and cook for another 2 mins. Pour in the passata and gently reduce by half before adding the cream and reducing by a third. To finish the sauce, pour in the resting juices, season and add a squeeze of the roasted lemon from the cavity of the chicken. Carve the chicken and serve with the sauce.