This chicken is flavoured with a combination I have liked very much since childhood. I had acute asthma, and when the coughing fits got too heavy my parents would make me a juice of ginger blended with turmeric, honey and cinnamon. It worked like a dream, and to this day I swear by it. I tried roasting chicken with the mixture one day, adding some other touches – it was fantastic.
The roast potatoes are Tony Singh's creation. What a combination.
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.
The chicken and roast potatoes have different oven temperatures. You can try cooking the potatoes first and reheating, or try just putting the potatoes on a lower shelf than the chicken.
