Delicious Australia – (12)December 2018

INTERVIEW

SAMANTHA JONES

PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

SHARYN CAIRNS

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

BRETT STEVENS

STYLING

KIRSTEN JENKINS

MERCHANDISING

EMMALY STEWART

THE CHEF AND

THE BUTCHER

C:Fass’s chicken bread is famous in my
book,Four Kitchens.
A:Your cookbook? I heard they were
doing‘buyone,get10free’?
C:They make a great doorstop if you
buyafew...
A:They sent them to Hawaii when the
hurricane hit to use as weights to hold
thingsdown,Iheard.Anyway,chickenis
agoodoneforChristmas;Ilikechicken.
Whendo you stick the brick up it?
C:Hang on, what? What brick?
A:It’sonabrick?
C:No,it’sonbread!
A:Oh, it’s your accent again. I thought
yousaid brick!
C:We’regoingtostartwithagood
sourdough. You slice it lengthways and
usethebottomhalf.Spreadoversome
butter,thenyoutopitwith thinly sliced
potatoes–obviously.
A:Obviously.
C:Drizzlethatwithoil,thenfor
Christmas, we make our stuffing. But
insteadofstuffingthechicken,Imake
this sausage stuffing with sage and
prunes, which we spread over the bread.
A:What about the prunes?
C:They’re in the stuffing, right, so it’s
really moist.
A:I’ve lost the stuffing. Where did you
putitagain?
C:Youspreaditoverthepotatoand
bread, then you put the chicken on top
andrubtheskinwithsaltandoil.The
stuffingmeldsintothebreadandthe
chicken melds into the stuffing, so the
breadislikechickenbread.
A:Well it’s upside-down like the Irish.
C:Take the chicken off the bread, then
you chop the bread so it’s like stuffing...

3garliccloves,crushed

500g pork and fennel sausages,

casings removed

1.5kg whole chicken

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Placebottom half of sourdough

onabakingtray(reservetophalffor

breadcrumbs or croutons). Spread

with butter, top with potato and

drizzlewith1tbsoil.

Tomake stuffing, combine prune, basil,

sage,fennel,thyme,garlic,sausagemeat

and1tbsoilinabowl.Spreadstuffing

over potato slices. Top with chicken,

tying the legs together with kitchen

string.Rub chicken with a pinch

of salt flakes and remaining 1 tbs oil,

then roast, breast-side up, turning

halfwaytobreast-sidedown,for1hour

25minutesoruntilthejuicesofthe

chicken run clear when the thickest part

ofathighispiercedwithaskewer.

Usinga cleaver or kitchen shears, carve

chickenintopiecesandservewiththickly

sliced sourdough, potato and stuffing.

A:It’s anarchy.

C:It’s like an Irish

pizza for Christmas.

Thebread will

steal the show.

A:I’mupset.It’sChristmas!Youknow

whyI’mabitangry?Ascrazyasit

sounds,thewholepizzathingmakes

abitofsense.Ican’tbelieveyou’ve

comeup trumps with this one.

C:Well I don’t want to call it Fass-mas.

I don’t want toslayyou, Anthony, I want

youonmysleigh.

A:Rudolf, not Gandalf, huh? Though

Christmas is generally eating, drinking

and relatives that end up going crazy.

“SomaybeabitofGandalf.

C:Whogoescrazy?

A:Allofthem!It’sallhappyandexciting

inthelead-up,like‘comeoverfor

Christmas’ and that. Then it’s war.

C:That’s the Christmas spirit, butcher!

FESTIVE ROAST CHICKEN WITH

SAUSAGE & PRUNE STUFFING

SERVES 4

You will need kitchen string for

this recipe.

1 sourdough loaf, halved horizontally

20gunsaltedbutter,softened

1 medium potato, very thinly sliced

(weused a mandoline)

(^1) / 4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
100gpitted prunes, finely chopped
1tbsfinelychoppedbasilleaves
(^1) / 2 bunch sage, leaves picked,
finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
3tsppickedthymeleaves,
finely chopped
Anthony PuharichdiscoversColin Fassnidge
doesn’t stuff around with his famed festive chicken.
Andthekeytoitssuccessisascrazyastheclan
who gather round the Christmas table to eat it.
Look out formore from Colin in
ON SUNDAY
@cfassnidge @fassnidge73
@askthebutcher_
56 delicious.com.au
MEAT MARKET.