Herby roast chicken with aubergine parmigiana.

How many times can you put roast chicken on a blog? It's my ultimate comfort food. After a hectic couple of weeks and a traumatic trip to the Trafford Centre I needed it. (Honestly, I hate shopping malls, but I needed clothes and it's just up the road.)

In the last couple of weeks I have had the most horrendous diet... shift work + travelling + wedding buffet + takeaway chips for tea on the way to the pub. As usual, for me, that means craving vegetables.

All of this means that on my first normal day at home I made roast chicken with aubergine parmigiana. The aubergine parmigiana is an amazing veggie meal if you're that way inclined.

First the chicken:

Herby Roast Chicken ingredients

-  A decent chicken. I've mentioned this before, but try and get one that hasn't had a hideous life. I'm prepared to pay a little extra and get a free range one from the butcher. Buy as big as you can afford, chicken leftovers can ALWAYS be used.
-  About 50grammes of butter, at room temperature makes it easier to use
-  Some herbs – I used rosemary and thyme as that's what I have
-  a couple of cloves of garlic
-  a lemon
-  salt and pepper

For all chicken timings (and roast times in general) you can't beat Delia. http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/meat/roasting-times.html Ignore the other instructions about bacon etc. but follow her temperatures and timings.

1. Finely chop your garlic and herbs together (taking the leaves of the rosemary and thyme and discarding the stalks) then mash it into the butter with some salt and pepper using a fork.
2. Using your hands separate the skin from the breast meat. It sounds gross, but get your finger underneath the skin at the gap above the breast and move it around to make a little pocket of space. Put half of the herby butter in that pocket.
3. Smear the rest of the butter over the rest of the chicken, and make sure there's a good blob in the joins between the legs and the body.
4. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the top, and put the squeezed out lemon inside the bird.
5. A bit more salt and pepper over the top, then cook according to Delia's timings, basting regularly. Don't forget to leave it to rest for a bit after.

Aubergine Parmigiana

This might all seem a bit faffy, but it's really nice. It works as a vegetarian dish if you serve it with crusty bread and salad. (and use veggie friendly cheese)

You can do all this while the chicken is in the oven.

Ingredients:

-  an aubergine
-  a couple of cloves of garlic
-  an onion, finely chopped (I'd run out and made it without, so it's not completely necessary)
-  a tin of tomatoes
-  a teaspoon of red wine vinegar (or balsamic)
-  a small handful of fresh oregano (or a teaspoon of dried)
-  a small handful of basil leaves
-  fresh parmesan (or alternative Italian hard cheese, parmesan will taste best) Finely grated.

First you have to make a sauce. This would work equally well as a pasta sauce/pizza topping if you wanted.

1. If using onion, fry gently for a couple of minutes until it softens. Finely chop together your garlic and oregano then fry (with the onion) on a low heat for a few minutes to help it release all the lovely flavours.
2. Add the tin of tomatoes, red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Leave it to bubble away and break down the tomatoes for a while. Fifteen minutes ought to do it.

 The aubergine:

1. Slice into centimetre thick slices.
2. Fry on a dry pan for a few minutes on each side to soften it and brown it a little. You'll probably need to do it in batches.
3. Erm, that's it.

Then build it up in layers: sauce, parmesan, aubergine, sauce, parmesan, aubergine etc. Finish it with sauce and plenty of parmesan. You could add mozarella if you wanted too, particularly if you were doing it as a veggie main course.

Shove in the oven for half an hour.

We had this with some roasted spuds and some steamed broccoli. And it was good. 

The rest of the chicken will be a curry/stir fry/sandwiches.