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1
Preheat the oven to 425F.
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2
Make sure your chicken is at room temperature, and cut off any string or rubber bands.
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3
Sit the chicken in a roasting pan.
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4
Put 1/2 the lemon into the chicken cavity, and sprinkle a little of the salt in there as well.
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5
Rub the butter over the skin and dribble with a little oil.
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6
Put into the oven and cook for 1 1/4 hours.
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7
Let the chicken rest in the roasting pan for 15 minutes, sprinkling over the remaining salt and squeezing over the other half of lemon while it sits, then move to a carving board.
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8
Deglaze the roasting pan with a little water, letting the juices and caramelized bits from the roast chicken make a small-volume but intensely-flavored gravy to spoon over the carved bird.
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9
Serve with lazy mash (see below).
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10
For the Mash: The oven needs to be at 425F for the lemon roast chicken, so put the potatoes in, pricking them with a fork first, on a shelf with the chicken.
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11
Cook the potatoes for 1 1/2 hours, which means that when the chicken comes out to rest, the potatoes will have another 15 or so minutes in the oven.
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12
If your oven is the sort that dips, heatwise, when its full, then put the potatoes in the oven 20 minutes before the chicken goes in.
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13
Remember, they dont need to have crunchy skins, just to be fluffy within.
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14
Once theyre cooked, halve them gingerly and scoop out the flesh into a bowl to make the mash.
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15
Add the butter and grate over the nutmeg and some pepper, and add the salt, and cream if, delightfully, using.
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16
Beat everything together well a fork is as good a tool as any and serve with the lemon roast chicken and the gravy, and some peas if you feel like it.
