Roast Miso Chicken with Hot Pickled Mushrooms Recipe

The miso chicken makes a great alternative to your traditional Sunday roast. We’ve spatchcocked the miso chicken which allows for a more even cook and easier carving.

Serve this simple miso chicken with rice or noodles and a generous helping of the pickled mushrooms.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 5tbsp white miso paste
• 1tbsp soy sauce
• 1tbsp sesame oil
• juice of 1 lime, plus 1 lime, sliced
• 1 whole free-range chicken, weighing around 2.5kg
• 2 red onions, sliced into 1cm rounds

For the pickled mushrooms:

• 75ml rice vinegar
• 3tbsp brown sugar
• 1tsp salt
• 400g mushrooms, sliced
• 3 spring onions, plus 2 extra for serving, finely sliced
• 100g (or 4 small) pak choi
• few sprigs of dill
• 2tbsp Japanese pickled ginger, finely sliced
• Asian microherbs (optional), to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C, gas 6. Mix together the miso, soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. To spatchcock the chicken: cut out the backbone with poultry shears (or ask your butcher to spatchcock for you). Put the red onions and lime on a large roasting tray. Rub the miso mixture all over the chicken, including under the breast skin, and sit it on top of the onions and limes.
2. Pop in the oven for 10 mins, then reduce the heat to 180C, gas 4, and cook for a further 50-55 mins or until the juices from the leg run clear when pierced with a sharp knife. (Halfway through cooking, check the liquid in the roasting tin. Add ½ cup of water if the onions or limes underneath the chicken are starting to catch).
3. For the pickled mushrooms, put 125ml water, the vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, stir in the mushrooms, spring onions and pak choi. Cover and simmer for 3-4 mins. Remove from the heat and stir through the dill and ginger.
4. When the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven, cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 10 mins. Scatter over microherbs (if using), and extra spring onions, and serve with pickled mushrooms and rice or noodles.