Every kitchen, I’m sure, has a favourite little gadget that comes out of hiding every once in a while. Be it the smoothie machine, ice cream maker or the panini press. These tools take up space and you are not going to use them everyday. So when they are redundant they are hidden away at the back of the press ready to be dusted off for another day. For us our go to gadget is our Chicken Brick. I bought it a few years ago from Habitat when they were in Dublin. Sadly that shop is no longer there but the Chicken Brick is still available online from Habitat http://www.habitat.co.uk/search?productsPerPage=20&keywords=Chicken+brick+&x=0&y=0

Weston Mill Pottery (www.wmpot.co.uk ) who make it , say it’s their most popular product after the wine rack. Believe me, you will not taste a more juicy and succulent roast chicken. On a healthy note you don’t even need to add any fat to cook the bird as a Chicken Brick acts like a mini-oven and will steam cook the food in its own moisture. The terracotta stores and then distributes the heat evenly without causing any skin to burn and the dry walls mean that the meat browns as it would in a normal oven.

Ingredients:

20g unsalted butter
Medium chicken

3 cloves garlic peeled and mashed

3 shallots chopped finely

Zest of 1 large orange

1/2 large orange chopped into segments

1 tin of peach slices 411g tin (10 peach segments)

1/2 tin peach juice

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper 

200 ml Chardonnay wine
2 large parsnips 

1/2 medium sized turnip

50g unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp golden syrup or honey

1 sprig thyme

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 180C. Rub inside of chicken brick with unsalted butter. Add in chopped shallots and garlic. Add a few orange and peach segments along with half the orange zest. Place chicken on top, now add the remaining orange and peach segments along with the remaining orange zest. Now pour over half the tin of peach juice and 200ml of Chardonnay white wine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover brick with lid and carefully  place in the oven for 1 hour approx. Chop parsnip and turnip and boil in pot. Once it’s soft, mash with butter, salt, golden syrup and thyme. Using all of the juices and peach pulp from chicken brick, create a rich gravy by adding a tbsp of chicken gravy granules, bring to simmer until it thickens and strain through a sieve. And serve.
Enjoy.