John Healy of The Restaurant: My easy roast chicken is a big hit at home

It’s not unusual to see me peering into my fridge at 11pm after a night on the restaurant floor. I’m currently general manager at Suesey Street restaurant and No 25 Fitzwilliam Place. With two busy venues to run, I generally eat lightly before service, it’s easier to move faster that way.

My go-to at home snack is toast: brown toast with butter, toast and cheese, toast with marmalade, toast with jam. But when I do cook, I keep it simple and tasty. I’m always in a rush coming or going somewhere. I’m not going to be found stirring stock into a risotto for 45 minutes.

But I do love to cook this easy roast dinner with lots of vegetables. It’s a regular on a Monday night in my home.

For me the ingredients are very important. We are very blessed in Dublin as there is an abundance of excellent food stores and supermarkets selling fantastic Irish organic produce. I live in Grand Canal so there are plenty of hip stores within walking distance.

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If you want to ramp it up a bit, change the roast potato to sweet potato. Other veg can be roasted too – carrots and parsnip with onion, garlic and mixed herbs and honey is nice. Even though this recipe is really simple, it’s not just a boring meat, potatoes and veg plate. It’s the little extras that make it special.

What you'll need:
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts, legs or thighs, skin-on and on the bone
Olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
A few springs of rosemary
Salt and pepper
4 Maris Piper potatoes, thickly sliced
1 bunch asparagus
50g Parmesan cheese

How to make it:

1. Preheat an oven to 200 degrees Celsius, or equivalent. In a bowl add your chicken, a good glug of olive oil, chilli flakes, rosemary and garlic.

2. Mix this together and rub into the chicken and leave to marinate as the oven heats up.

3. Meanwhile peel your potatoes and parboil them for 15 minutes.

4. Drain, and add them to roasting dish. Drizzle with a little oil and season with salt and pepper.

5. Add the chicken to the dish and bung it in the oven for 45 minutes.

6. Toss the asparagus in olive oil, put it into a roasting dish, cover in grated Parmesan and add to the oven for 20 - 25 minutes, until tender but still crisp.

7. Serve all together.

John Healy is general manager of Suesey Street and Maître d’ on TV3’s The Restaurant.  sueseystreet.ie