• Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Grind the fennel seeds and chilli flakes together with a pestle and mortar until the fennel seeds are lightly crushed. Then mix the crushed spices with the softened butter in a bowl, and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Reserve 15g of the flavoured butter. Working from the top end of the bird, push clean hands between the breasts and skin to create two large pockets. Push the remaining 35g of flavoured butter down each pocket and smooth over the breast to help distribute it. Rub the reserved butter over the legs and the rest of the chicken.
• Place the chicken on the trivet in the roasting tin and roast for 1 hour 55 minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven and check that the temperature of the breasts are 74C – I use my Thermapen to do this. Pour any juices into the roasting tin, and transfer the cooked chicken to a large chopping board and rest for 20 minutes under loose tin foil.

Make the gravy (optional):

• While the chicken is resting, make the optional gravy – place the roasting tin over a high heat on the hob and sprinkle in the plain flour. Stir to mix well, then add the chicken stock.   Stir to combine and ensure there are no lumps.   Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to low to retain a steady simmer and cook for 10 minutes.   Check the seasoning and then transfer the gravy to a serving jug.

Serve:

• Carve the chicken and serve with the gravy, if you’ve made it, and enjoy with your choice of sides.
• The first time we made this chicken recipe, we enjoyed it with our garlic and rosemary hasselback potatoes and roast tenderstem broccoli with parmesan and pine nut crumb - look out for these recipes being added on Wednesday and Friday this week.