Spring chicken with jammy leeks & salsa verde

Heat the oven to 200C fan. Halve the leeks lengthways, give them a quick wash, then place them cut-side down on a large baking tray. Top the leeks with whole garlic cloves, in their skins, and fresh thyme. Season with salt and pepper.

Spatchcock your chicken buy cutting out the backbone with scissors, flipping over and pressing down on the breasts to flatten. Pat the skin dry with a paper towel then drizzle with a little oil and season well with salt on both sides. Lay your chicken over the leeks and roast for 40-50 minutes until golden and crispy or until cooked through.

To make the salsa verde, add the parsley and grated garlic to a blender with some olive oil. Blitz until finely chopped, then chuck in the dijon, capers, lemon juice and zest, salt and a good amount of olive oil and blitz again.

Once the chicken is cooked, let it rest for 10-20 minutes before breaking it down into parts. If you’re serving with butter beans, now’s a great time to get them bubbling away in their stock with some of the chicken juices and that roasted garlic from under the chicken.

Plate the leeks on the base of a big serving plate and arrange the chicken on top. Spoon over the salsa verde and serve any extra on the side. Finish with a big squeeze of lemon and dig in!