An easy breezy Sunday roast for springtime

Asparagus bundles swathed in Parma ham and cheese, kale pesto butterbeans, herby roast chicken, and addictive gravy croutons that will change the way you think about stale bread forever.

A roast dinner can be a real faff

All those pans. All those different side dishes. All those different timings. All that washing up. Too often the chef is so frazzled by the time they serve up that the meal seems far less enticing than a lie down.

But not if you start with the veg

If you start with the intention of putting seasonal veg at the centre, things become easier. Rather than beginning with a big lump of meat and having a chorus line of vegetable side dishes can-canning furiously behind the meat to make it sing, a cook who thinks about how to celebrate the current harvest before they think about the meat will, I think, have an easier, and tastier, time.

Here, for example, my inspiration was the new season asparagus

And the field of herbs growing outside my kitchen window. Plus some kale pesto in the fridge that needed using up. From there I got to pesto butterbeans with asparagus blanketed in crispy ham and parmesan for crunch and a salty pop.

This on its own would make a complete meal, but that’s not to say meat couldn’t play a part. I have, after all, included an entire roast chicken slathered in herb butter since it’s a special day of festivities. My point is that, for me, the vegetables – asparagus, herbs, kale – play just as big a part in the story as the chicken. An ensemble cast, if you like.

The result is a celebratory roast dinner that is almost entirely prepared in advance and served in one, at most two, dishes. Leaving you time to scoff Easter eggs.

But before we cook, I must warn you about the croutons

They are inspired by a trick I saw on the menu at Henri when I was there last, and they are more addictive than you could possibly imagine. The stale bread is added to the chicken tray in the final moments of roasting. The bread has just enough time to turn golden on top whilst also soaking up the herby buttery chicken juices. I will be adding them to all my roast chickens from now on.

Ham & cheese asparagus bundles with roast chicken, kale pesto butterbeans and gravy croutons

This is everything I want in a roast dinner: hearty, flavourful and no stress for the cook (or washer-upper). Everything can be prepared ahead, and I’ve assumed you will do that in the way I’ve laid out the instructions. Of course, you can take any element of this – beans, asparagus or chicken – and make them separately for a less involved meal. The asparagus, for example, is a terrific nibble with drinks. And the beans make a quick mid-week lunch with a hunk of bread.

Serves 6

For the chicken:

• 50g salted butter, softened

• 4 tbsp finely chopped herbs (parsley, tarragon, chervil etc)

• 1 large whole chicken