Recipe + pairing | Angela Clutton's Roast chicken with roasted asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli

Seasoning by Angela Sutton (available now) features 75 delicious recipes matched to the rhythm of the seasons, celebrating the best produce available and featuring tips on how to avoid wastage, year round.

And look, is there a much better meal than a roast chook with the best of what’s in season? Perfect for a friends and family gathering at the weekend, naturally it deserves a great wine pairing too - here’s the recipe, plus our recommendations.

Pairing tip: “My mouth is watering just thinking about tucking into this, so I’ll keep the pairing advice short - I’d be reaching for a chardonnay, all day. I like mine to be on the medium-bodied, nutty side - something like a Yarra Valley or Margaret River chardy would go down exceptionally well, but feel free to go for a lighter style like a chablis if you’d prefer. If you want to dress it up, a traditional method sparkling chardy or a champagne is also a winner - and for those red tragics, a gamay is all good here” - Nick

Try this with:

El Enemigo Chardonnay 2021

A completely unique style of chardy - this is absolutely one to try. There’s no shortage of classic flavours. You’ll get all the fresh citrus, green and yellow apples and white peach you could wish for. This also sees flor ageing in barrel, not unlike sherry. And that’s where the magic happens. The toasty, flinty oak profile is enhanced with complex yeasty notes, vanillin-sweet oak and nutty-savoury undertones. It’s richly flavoured, but perfectly balanced at the same time. We're applauding another vintage of this wonderfully made wine.

Chardonnay 2023 – Black Market Deal #48747

Glorious Yarra Valley chardonnay. This is so focused and pure, the green apple and citrus fruit profile absolutely sings. Nuttiness and creaminess provide that all important layer of complexity. Some never-overbearing palate weight acts as a counterweight to the brightness of the acidity, making for a beautifully balanced wine.

Roast chicken with roasted asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli 

The best roast chickens always have tender, flavourful flesh beneath skin that is perfectly bronzed and crisp. In my go-to roast chicken recipe those things are achieved by: Using the best high-welfare chicken you can; liberally anointing the skin with a winning combination of dry sherry, olive oil and salt; and stuffing it with aromatics that will release flavour into the meat. As the seasons change I switch up what the chicken is stuffed with. In autumn/winter this fresh, leafy spring stuffing might instead be the end of a leek, onion chunks, a halved orange, garlic cloves, woody herbs like rosemary and thyme…. 

I also switch up what vegetables I roast in the juices the chicken has released into the tin as it cooks. Those roasting juices are umami-laden gold for autumn/winter’s carrots, kale, cauliflower, fennel…. But this is how I do it in spring. Giving seasonal PSB and asparagus gorgeous depth of flavour to accompany the best roast chicken.

Serves 4–6 as a main 

• 1 whole chicken, around 2kg (4lb 8oz) 

• 1 lemon 

• handful of wild garlic leaves 

• 4 tarragon sprigs 

• 4 oregano sprigs 

• 75ml (2 ½ fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil 

• 100ml (3 ½ fl oz) fino or manzanilla sherry

• 750g (1lb 10oz) purple sprouting broccoli 

• 750g (1lb 10oz) asparagus (typically 3 bundles) 

• 3 basil sprigs 

• 3 mint sprigs 

• 3 dill sprigs 

• salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190°C fan/400°F/gas 6. 

Sit the chicken in a roasting tin. Halve the lemon and stuff one half inside the chicken along with the wild garlic leaves, tarragon and oregano. Pour the olive oil over the chicken, then the sherry, and finish with lots of salt over the skin. Roast for 1 hour 45 minutes, basting the chicken with its juices twice during the cooking time. 

Meanwhile, prepare the veg: Trim away any very woody ends of the purple sprouting broccoli; snap off the woody ends of the asparagus spears. 

When the chicken is done, lift it out of its tin onto a serving dish or board. Loosely cover with foil (or I often just put a large stockpot over it) and set aside to rest.

Turn the oven up just a little to 210°C fan/450°F/gas 8. Put the purple sprouting broccoli into the tin the chicken roasted in, toss round and roast for 7–10 minutes depending on how thick their stems are. Next add the asparagus spears, tossing round again. Roast for another 10 minutes or until both the purple sprouting broccoli and asparagus are cooked through. 

Transfer the vegetables to a serving dish and squeeze over the remaining lemon half. Chop the basil, mint and dill leaves and mix those through the veg. Give a good grinding of pepper and serve the roasted chicken with its tumble of roasted seasonal vegetables.

Images and text from Seasoning by Angela Clutton, photography by Patricia Niven. Murdoch Books RRP $55.00 - available via Booktopia.