Pesto Roast Chicken with green veggies

Pesto Roast Chicken with green veggies – 2 of your 5 a day, a source of healthy polyunsaturated fats and high in lean protein 💚

Serves 4 – 6 | Preparation Time: | Cook Time:

Ingredients:

Large bunch of basil

150ml extra virgin olive oil

50ml garlic infused olive oil or 1 crushed garlic clove

25g pine nuts

25g Parmesan or pecorino, grated

Juice of half a lemon

1.6-1.8kg Whole chicken

500g new potatoes, chopped in half

1 courgette, use veg peeler to make ribbons

200g green beans

200g asparagus

100g broad beans

100g peas

1tbsp plain flour

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (fan)

Blitz the basil, oils, cheese, lemon juice and pine nuts in a blender until it forms a smooth sauce. You may need to add some more oil to get this consistency.
Place the chicken in a roasting tin and rub just under half of the pesto under the skin of the chicken. Put the used half of lemon in the chicken cavity, and place the tin in the middle of the oven.

After 45 minutes, add the potatoes to the roasting tin and cover the chicken in another tablespoon of the pesto. Put back in the oven for another 45 minutes.

Removing the chicken from the oven, check the juices of the chicken are clear and the meat is no longer pink in the middle, then leave to rest under tin foil.

Steam the green beans and asparagus for 3 minutes (in a microwave steamer – will take longer on the hob) then add the peas and broad beans for a further 2 minutes. Tip these into a bowl and add the courgette to the steamer and leave in the microwave for 1 minute, then add to the bowl with the rest of the veg.