Serves 4-6
Takes 2 hours, plus overnight for brining
A wonderful way to use up any leftover haggis from your Burns Night celebrations. The buttery haggis mixture protects your chicken breasts from overcooking, keeping them fabulously moist.
A fantastic alternative to a Sunday roast that still provides comfort with rich stuffed chicken and a silky jus, all atop buttery, pillowy mash potato…Perfect to curl up with on a cold and windy Sunday night.
Begin brining your bird the day before. Place the chicken in a large pot and in a bowl add 4 tablespoons of table salt to 1 litre of water, mix until the salt has dissolved and pour over the chicken. Continue to do this until the chicken is completely submerged. Place in the fridge overnight.
The day you want to cook, remove from the fridge and drain the water, pat dry and leave to come to room temperature for 2 hours. Pre heat your oven to 180C fan.
In a bowl, crumble the haggis and add the butter and chopped parsley, mix well so everything is nicely combined.
With a tablespoon, gently push underneath the skin of the chicken breast to part from the breast meat.
Push the buttery-haggis mix into the two pockets, using the palms of your hands to smooth it evenly over the breast meat. If you have any excess butter, smooth the rest over the legs and wings to give them colour when roasting.
Arrange all the chopped veg in a roasting tin, this will act as a trivet for the chicken. Place the bird on top and drizzle over 1 tbsp olive oil, season with a little salt, inside the cavity and over the skin. Place in the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes or until the internal temperature has reached a minimum of 75C.
Remove and transfer to a large board, cover with foil and a tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.
Set the trivet with the roast veg on a high heat on the hob and pour in 500ml water, bring everything to a boil and allow to reduce for 15 minutes. With a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash all the veg into a pulp to release their flavours. Mix the corn starch with 4 tbsp water to make a slurry, stir through to help thicken if you feel you need to. Strain the gravy through a sieve and serve alongside your chicken.
Carve the chicken, removing the legs and wings first, then carefully take off the breast meat and slice into thick pieces. We like to serve ours with buttery mash and garlicky greens. Pour over that lovely gravy and enjoy!
2kg whole chicken
Olive oil
Table salt
150g haggis
50g butter
Small handful parsley, roughly chopped
Pinch of salt
2 carrots, cut in half length-ways
1 large white onion, roughly cut into chunks
3 sticks of celery
1 garlic clove, cut in half
Handful of thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
