A recipe for a tasty fllling protein-rich dish. You'll need chicken, sunflower oil, a lemon, rosemery, garlic, herbs and pepper. The bean mash uses tinned beans of your choice with olive oil, garlic and rosemary.

Ingredients

• 1 x 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) chicken
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 lemon, halved
• Leaves from 4 x 5 cm (2 in) sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 4 fresh bay leaves
• Cloves from 1 small head of garlic, separated but left unpeeled
• 250 ml (9 fl oz) homemade no-salt chicken stock
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the white bean mash:

• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1½ tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 3 x 400 g cans white beans (cannellini, haricot or butterbean) in water, drained and rinsed
• 7 tbsp hot homemade no-salt chicken stock
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas 5). Rub the outside of the chicken with the oil, then season inside and out with pepper. Push the lemon halves, half the rosemary leaves and the bay leaves into the cavity.
2. Put the rest of the garlic and the rosemary in a roasting tin and rest the chicken on top. Roast the chicken for 1¼ hours until the meat is cooked thoroughly.
3. For the garlic and white bean mash, put the oil, garlic and rosemary into a medium-sized pan. Place it over a medium-high heat and leave it to sizzle gently for 1 minute without letting the garlic brown. Add the drained beans and stir for 5 minutes until they are heated through. Tip the mixture into a food processor, add the chicken stock and blend using the pulse button into a coarse purée. Season to taste with some lemon juice and plenty of pepper. Return to the pan, cover and keep warm.
4. Remove the chicken from the oven, cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes.
5. For the low-GI gravy, pour the excess fat out of the roasting tin, place it directly over a medium heat and add a splash of the stock. Rub the base of the tin with a wooden spoon to release all the caramelised chicken juices. Add the remaining stock, mashing the garlic cloves with the back of a wooden spoon. Simmer for 5 minutes then strain, season with pepper to taste and keep hot.
6. Uncover the chicken and pour the juices from the cavity and the carving board into the gravy. Carve (remove the skin) and serve with the gravy, white bean mash and some cooked vegetables of your choice.

Serves 4