Truffled Brioche-Stuffed Roast Chicken with Pan Jus

⏱ 135 min · Serves 4

A showpiece Sunday bird: butter loosened with truffle slid under the skin, a buttery brioche, leek and mushroom stuffing perfuming the cavity, and a glossy, deeply savoury pan jus to finish. It smells like a very good restaurant and carves like a dream.

Per serving: 942 kcal · 63.0g protein · 38.0g carbs · 60.0g fat

Ingredients

• 1 free-range chicken, about 1.8kg
• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbsp truffle paste or 2 tsp truffle oil
• 1 small black truffle, shaved (optional)
• 250g brioche loaf, torn into 2cm pieces
• 200g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 leek, finely sliced and washed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 egg, beaten
• 75ml chicken stock (for stuffing)
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, thickly sliced
• 1 carrot, halved lengthways
• 300ml chicken stock (for jus)
• 100ml dry white wine
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• Sea salt and black pepper

Method

1. Take the chicken out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Heat oven to 200C fan 180C.
2. Spread the torn brioche on a tray and toast for 8 minutes until lightly golden. Tip into a bowl.
3. Melt 30g of the butter in a pan and soften the leek for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic, cook over high heat 6-8 minutes until any liquid has gone and they smell nutty. Season well.
4. Add the mushroom mix to the brioche with parsley, thyme, egg and 75ml stock. Toss gently; it should be moist but not sludgy. Cool slightly.
5. Mash the remaining 120g butter with the truffle paste, a big pinch of salt and any truffle shavings you're using.
6. Loosen the skin over the breasts with your fingers and push two-thirds of the truffle butter underneath, spreading it evenly. Rub the rest over the outside.
7. Spoon the stuffing loosely into the cavity (bake any extra in a small dish for the last 25 minutes). Tuck in the lemon halves, tie the legs and season the skin generously.
8. Scatter the onion and carrot in a roasting tin, drizzle with oil, and sit the chicken on top. Roast 1 hour 20 minutes, basting twice, until the juices from the thigh run clear and a probe reads 74C in the thigh and stuffing.
9. Lift the chicken onto a board, cover loosely with foil and rest 20 minutes.
10. Set the tin over medium heat, spoon off excess fat, add wine and reduce by half, scraping up the sticky bits. Add 300ml stock and mustard, simmer 5-6 minutes, then strain and whisk in a knob of butter.
11. Carve the chicken, spoon out the stuffing and serve with the hot jus poured over.