Five-spice roasted chicken

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4)

1k g chicken pieces, on the bone, skin removed
1 tbsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
Juice of ½ lemon
8 chat potatoes, cut in half
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, cut into wedges
1 bunch asparagus, halved and with woody ends snapped off
300g green beans

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Slash the chicken pieces all over with a knife, so each piece has several cuts.

2. Put the five-spice powder, soy sauce and cooking wine into a bowl. Mix together, then add the chicken pieces. Rub this spicy mixture into the chicken, making sure you push it into the slashes and all around the bone.

3. Pour all of this into a large roasting dish, squeeze the lemon juice over, then roughly chop the leftover lemon skins and place these in the roasting dish as well. Add the potatoes, drizzle over the olive oil and place in the oven.

4. After 20 minutes, remove the dish from the oven. Turn each piece of chicken and the potatoes over. Add the onion wedges, asparagus and green beans, coating them with the juices.

5. Place the roasting dish back in the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown and the vegetables are cooked through.

TIP: Chinese cooking wine, or Shaoxing wine, is made from rice and has a wonderful, complex flavour. A lot of supermarkets now stock Chinese cooking wine, and it’s also available from Asian grocers.