Buttery Saffron Spring Chicken with Cumin Roasted Potatoes by Mita Mistry

Follow Mita Mistry on her brilliant food blog Saffron and Spice. 
Original recipe link here. 

Butter.. It makes everything taste so much better.. that salty richness.. and only gets better with the addition of saffron. Saffron, with it's delicate perfume, combined with butter is a combination that evokes the flavours used in special Indian dishes, and is the kind of taste that you save up.. a little bit of luxury when you need that little taste of feel-good in your life..
I love this recipe and it was inspired by the flavours of a traditional biryani, with that great British classic, a Sunday lunch of roast chicken and potatoes.. It uses tender spring chicken, roasted with fresh chilli, ginger, garlic and ground spices and is then basted with a saffron butter.. And you can't have a roast without roast potatoes.. and as jersey royal potatoes are in season, they make a perfect accompaniment to the chicken, roasted with cumin seeds and crushed chilli flakes..


Serves 2 - 3
Cooking Time: 1 hour - 1 hour 15 mins

Ingredients:

1.5kg Free-range Spring chicken
5 - 6 hot green chillis, finely chopped
1 tbsp minced ginger & garlic paste
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp salt
A pinch of saffron
50g butter

For the roasties:
500g Jersey royal potatoes
Vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
Salt to taste

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 190c.

For the Chicken -

That Spring chicken. Remove the skin from the chicken and slash the legs with two diagonal gashes with a sharp knife to make sure that the spices gets through.

Now for the spices. Mix the chilli, garlic, ginger, ground cumin, ground coriander, garam masala together and spread the spice mix all over the chicken.

Place the chicken in a non-stick roasting tray and place in the centre of the hot oven. Depending on your oven and your bird, the chicken should take about an hour to cook but keep checking the chicken every so often and test that the juices are running clear before you take it out the oven.  Rest for 15 minutes, or as longs as you can hold out.

Time to baste that baby. While you are letting the chicken rest, melt the butter in a small pan and add the saffron. Brush the saffron butter all over, making sure all the chicken gets some of that yellow gold.

For the Potatoes - Start cooking the potatoes about halfway through the cooking time of the chicken.

Cut the jerseys in half and drop the potatoes in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook until tender. As the potatoes are cooking, put some vegetable oil in a roasting tin and out in the oven so that the oil gets hot hot.

Once the potatoes are done, drain in a colander and carefully put the potatoes into the roasting pan. Sprinkle over the cumin seeds, crushed chilli flakes and salt to taste over and turn the potatoes in oil, coating all sides. Roast until golden brown. Feel good at first juicy bite.