[jambutty]

Catering for one is always a problem but I think that I have solved it as far as chicken is concerned. And a leg/shoulder of lamb or pork. I suppose that I could get a couple of chicken legs or breast pieces and roast them but you don’t get the chicken stock and that is where a lot of the flavour is.

Roasting a chicken for one person or even more.

If you can get a free range chicken all the better, otherwise buy one from a butcher rather than from a supermarket.

You will need a decent sized roasting dish with a lid, a measuring jug and a packet of stuffing. I used to have a decent sized non-stick metal one, until I lent it to a neighbour. She used a Brillo pad to clean it with and over time, slowly but surely it got rusty. So I had to buy an oven proof glass one. £8.99. Absolute robbery!

Pour the stuffing into the measuring jug and add a couple of tablespoonfuls of dried onions. No dried onions, then use a fresh one cut up very small. A pinch of salt wouldn’t go amiss.
Add some boiling water and stir the mixture. Add some more boiling water and stir until the mixture is thick. Don’t worry if you add too much water so that the mixture is sloppy. It will evaporate during roasting. If you add so much that the mixture is runny then pour the lot into a clean cloth and squeeze out the excess moisture.

Look sternly at the chicken and tell it to “Spread ‘em”. It is not necessary to point a gun at the chicken - it's already dead! Remove the packet of giblets if there is one.
Spoon the stuffing mix into the chicken cavity until it is all in or the cavity is full.
Tie the legs together so that the cavity is closed.
Place in the roasting dish, cover with the lid and slide it into a pre-warmed oven at about gas mark 1.
Some four hours later you will have a succulent chicken with the meat just falling off the bones and lots of chicken stock.
If you want to brown off the chick outside, take off the lid, up the gas to about 6 for, oh I don’t know, just keep looking every ten minutes or so.

Now for the gravy.
Follow the directions on the chicken gravy mix box but add the stock first then top up with boiling water to bring the gravy to a consistency of your liking.

My chicken is in the oven now and at around 4 o’clock I will tear off the legs, thighs and wings and with a couple of slices of bread and butter, a chunk of strong Cheddar cheese and a couple of scoops of stuffing I will tuck in with relish. With some of the gravy in a shallow cup I can dip the bread into it.

For tomorrow.
Put the gravy in a saucepan.
Slice the chicken breast into the saucepan, cover and set aside to cool. I use a plastic carrier bag.
Scoop out the remainder of the stuffing and wrap it with some foil.

Tomorrow I will ‘roast’ a few pre-roasted frozen spuds, gently warm the chicken in gravy and some peas and warm up the stuffing.

There could be enough left for a couple of butties in the evening.