If you love a roast dinner but want to lighten it up a bit, this is a great recipe.  All the green veg really makes it a summer dish, but the tarragon cream sauce has the comfort food feel of a Sunday roast. 

BBC Good Food Magazine

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 .5 kg whole chicken
• 1 onion
• 1 lemon
• small bunch tarragon
• 1 tb unsalted butter softened
• 750 g small new potatoes
• 1 tb olive oil
• 250 g asparagus spears or trimmed
• green beans
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 150 ml double cream
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 150 g frozen petit pois

Instructions

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the chicken on a board,then cut away any string that had been used to bind the bird. Remove the giblets from the cavity. Cut the onion and lemon in half, then put half the onion, half the lemon, and several tarragon sprigs in the cavity.
• Loosely re-tie the legs together with kitchen twine (see tip, right and pic A). Spread the butter over the breast and thigh meat, then season. Put in a roasting tin (flameproof if you have one), and cook for 20 mins.
• Cut any larger potatoes in half,has been in the oven for 20 mins. Drizzle with 1 tbsp oil then add to the tin once the chicken and toss with any juices in the tin. Return to the oven for 45 mins.
• Trim the woody ends of the asparagus – about 4cm
• When the chicken is golden and cooked and the potatoes are tender, transfer everything to a large platter. If the potatoes need a little longer, remove the cooked chicken and return the potatoes to the oven for 10 mins more. Put the platter into the (turned off) oven, leaving the door slightly open, to keep the chicken warm as it rests
• While the chicken rests, spoon the excess fat from the roasting tin, then put the tray on a low heat, add the wine and bubble for 1 min(tip into a pan if your tin isn’t flameproof). Add the cream and stock.
• Add the asparagus (or beans) to the pan, then simmer for 3-5 mins. Add the peas, then bring to the boil until the veg are just tender
• Coarsely chop the rest of the tarragon and stir it into the sauce and veg. Season the sauce to taste- add a splash of the juice from the remaining lemon half, if you like. Serve the chicken with the potatoes,vegetables, and sauce.