Ingredients

• 1.2kg/2lb 10oz chicken
• 6 tbsp honey
• 50g/1¾oz fresh root ginger
• chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed or olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1-1.2kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 10oz floury potatoes
• peeled and cut roughly into 5cm/2in chunks
• 100ml/3½fl oz rapeseed oil or vegetable oil
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
• ¼ tsp garlic powder (optional)

Directions

• In a blender or mini food-processor
• blend together all of the marinade ingredients to a fine paste. Taste and adjust the seasoning to taste.
• Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper. Put it in a dish and rub the marinade all over it and if time allows let it rest for an hour or so in the fridge.
• Preheat an oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
• Put the chicken in a roasting tin and baste with the marinade
• reserving any extra. Bake the chicken for one hour. Cover the chicken loosely with aluminium foil after the first 10-15 minutes or the honey in the marinade will burn. Baste the chicken a few times during cooking
• adding some of the reserved marinade if it starts to look dry.
• To cook the potatoes
• preheat an oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Put the prepared potatoes in a pan of salted water
• bring to the boil
• then reduce the heat and simmer for seven minutes. Meanwhile
• pour the oil into a large roasting tin and put into the oven for five minutes until hot.
• Drain the potatoes well
• allow to steam
• then return to the pan in which the were cooked. Cover the pan and shake the potatoes about – you want to bash up their edges but not break them up. Gently transfer them to the hot roasting tin
• turn them about in the hot oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast on the top shelf for 30 minutes
• then turn them and roast for a further 20–30 minutes or until crisp and golden-brown.
• After the chicken has been roasting for an hour
• check whether it is cooked. (The meat is cooked when a thin skewer or a thick needle inserted in the thigh joint produces a clear liquid.) Transfer to a serving dish
• cover the chicken with foil and allow it to rest for five minutes before you carve it.
• Meanwhile
• strain the liquid from the roasting tin into a small pan
• adjust the seasoning to taste and keep warm.
• Mix together the sage
• chilli powder
• bouillon powder and garlic powder if using
• to make a spice mix. Remove the potatoes from the oven
• set them on a plate lined with kitchen paper
• and sprinkle over the spice mix.
• Joint and serve the roast chicken alongside the roast potatoes
• drizzled with the juices from the roasting pan.