Spiced Chicken and broth

I love combining different cuisines to give exciting twists to old favourite recipes. This dish is an amalgamation between the French countryside chicken I've had in so many bistros in France, and the subtly spicy flavours used in so many of the Moroccan dishes I had in Marrakech.

Ingredients (2 people)

Chicken: whole chicken (mine wasn't a very large chicken), 1/2 lemon, 4 cloves garlic, 2tsp ground coriander, 1tsp sea salt, 1tbsp olive oil. 

Broth: 2 leeks, 1 courgette, 2 handfuls baby spinach, 1tbsp unsalted butter, 1tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1tsp ground coriander, 3 cloves garlic finely chopped, 1 cup chicken stock.

Chicken: pre heat the oven to 180 Celsius. Bash the garlic cloves with the heel of your hand to split them slightly (skins on) and put in to the cavity of the chicken along with the lemon half. Rub olive oil over the outside of the chicken, sprinkle with salt and ground coriander and place in a roasting tin in the oven for 60 minutes, spooning some of it's juices over the chicken half way through. 

To check if it's cooked after the hour, insert a knife between the leg and breast, if the juices run clear it's cooked, if not pop back in the oven for a further 10 minutes and check again. 

Lift the cooked chicken on to a resting dish, cover with tinfoil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Reserve any pan juices from the chicken for the broth (see below)

Once rested use a knife to gently ease away the breasts and legs from the chicken so they are in separate portions. 

Broth: clean the leeks by splitting in half and washing thoroughly to remove any grit, then thinly slice. Half the courgette, discarding the ends and cut into 5mm slices. 

Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the leeks on a gentle heat until they start to soften. Next add the courgettes and garlic and cover, stirring often, for 6 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and coriander and cook for 2 minutes more. 

Tip any of the juice which has come out of the resting chicken back in to the chickens roasting tin juices, tilt the tin and use a spoon to remove and surface fat (which will be clear), you only want to reserve the brown juices underneath. Add these pan juices to the leek mix, along with the additional cup of chicken stock. Take the lemon out of the chickens cavity and squeeze any juices in to the leek mixture. Bring to a simmer, add the spinach and cover until the spinach has wilted down. Stir through to combine. 

To serve spoon the broth in to shallow bowls and place the chicken pieces on top.