Festive roast chicken

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C fan bake. Heat a generous drizzle of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Fry the bacon for 5 - 7 minutes until starting to golden. Add garlic and one finely diced onion and fry for a few minutes until the onion has softened. Transfer to a food processor and add toasted bread, cranberries, the zest of the orange, eggs and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper and pulse to combine. 
2. Place the chicken in a roasting dish, pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with a third of the cranberry stuffing, then tie the drumsticks together and fold under the wing tips.  
3. Cut the remaining onion and orange into wedges and scatter into the roasting dish. Generously drizzle over olive oil, then place in the oven to roast for 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through and the juices run clear. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes before carving.  
4. Roll the remaining stuffing into balls and place on a lined baking tray. Place in the oven to bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown.  
5. Serve the roast chicken with the stuffing balls. 

Serve this roast with cranberry sauce instead of gravy for a dairy-free option. 

Top tips and Hacks:

• Keep your onion skins, garlic peel and rosemary stalks and stuff them into the cavity of the chicken (after the stuffing is placed) for extra flavour (take them out just before carving) 
• Make a rosemary “brush” and baste the chicken by dipping the rosemary into the roasting tray juices and brushing the surface of the chicken with it, every 20 minutes during the roasting process. This will not only add moisture but flavour to the chicken during the cooking. 
• Scrub and cut any potatoes or kūmara into wedges and place under the chicken during the roasting process—not only does this hold up the chicken for even roasting but the juices from the cooking process will go on the roasted vegetables. You can give them colour when you bake the stuffing after the chicken, just leave them on the tray with the stuffing balls.  
• Reserve extra rosemary and oil to make a herb oil to rub on the skin of the chicken just before roasting for extra flavour. 
• Folding under the wing tips stops them from burning, however alternatively you can cover the tips with aluminium foil to stop them from burning during roasting.  
• For bread in the stuffing, we recommend sourdough or ciabatta for flavour—however any bread will work, even bread ends in the freezer! 
• If there are a lot of roasting juices left in the pan, stir it into your gravy to add extra flavour. 

Swaps:

• You can swap the orange for other citrus like lemon or mandarin. 
• You can swap the bacon rashers for chicken bacon, to give an extra chicken flavour to the dish (and for those who don’t eat pork).  
• Drizzle with olive oil for best results, or you can use a neutral cooking oil such as canola or vegetable. 
• If you don’t have fresh rosemary, dried rosemary will also work but won’t be as fragrant. You can also add a mixture of other herbs such as dried mixed herbs, sage, or thyme.