“Ip’s mab plue. Gib me garbic.” (It’s Man Flu. Give me garlic.)

“Bllllpppppp.” (The sound of me blowing my nose). Not the best way for you to start reading this post. Not the most pleasant way for me to be writing it. The Wife and the Mother both need feeding this evening and I am completely under the weather. It could even be the dreaded Man Flu. “Bllllpppppp. Uggghhhh.” I need to get plenty of garlic, lemon and rosemary into me to beat off the devastation that this Man Flu is wreaking on my system.

What better way than with Extreme Garlic, Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken? I fancied some sage and rosemary roast potatoes to go with this. The sage is meant to be good for curing this awful illness too. That’s lots of garlic, sage, rosemary and lemon fighting my condition. “Bllllpppppp. Uggghhhh. Bllllpppppp.”

I used:

• A free range chicken
• 2 or 3 bulbs of garlic (from the Trek to Lautrec)
• Olive oil
• 3 or 4 sprigs of rosemary
• A lemon
• Salt and black pepper

Here’s what to do:

Chop and mash two bulbs of garlic. If you have regular shop garlic, use 3 bulbs.

When I said I used a lot of garlic, I wasn’t joking. It tasted wonderful.

Gratuitous garlic shot. This stuff is so good, I just had to show another angle.

I don’t want to overstate the case for this beautiful garlic. So, I won’t.

Chop the rosemary pretty fine too.

Chop the rosemary nice and small. This helps the flavour in the rosemary oils escape into the food.

Wash and zest the lemon. Mix the zest and the juice of half the lemon together with some black pepper and olive oil.

I am a production team of one. A lot of messing with the timer and zested fingers were the price of this simple shot.

Lift the skin from the chicken breast and legs. This is not the most pleasing task but it’s worth doing it. Rub the mixture inside the skin, the cavity and the outside of the bird.

No, not just that amount of garlic. There is the same under the skin and the same again inside the cavity.

Put it on to roast for as long as it takes to cook a chicken. I refuse to tell you because the Man Flu has me very grumpy. “Bllllpppppp. Bllllpppppp.” Dice the potatoes and add a mixture of olive oil with rosemary, chopped sage, salt and pepper.

This was the best way to get the sage into the dish. Sage and rosemary potatoes. Delicious.

With half an hour to go on the chicken cooking time, put these in the oven on the top shelf. Blow your nose until it is sore. If you are a man, feel very sorry for yourself. If you are a woman, work on, that’s what you do. When the chicken is cooked, take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes. If you are in my house ‘resting’ involves defending the bird from the Wife and Mother. Both avid ‘pickers’. Few things in life annoy me more than a pre-serving picker. “Sorry Mum. Sorry Wife.”

An hour and 20 minutes in the oven and the house smelled beautifully of sweet garlic.

Carve the chicken. Serve it with the potatoes. I also served some snow peas, despite their lack of any curative properties.

Gratuitous chicken photo. Look at the beautiful juicy white meat. That’s breast to those of you mature enough not to giggle.

This was delicious and even better the next day cold in a sandwich.

My nose was streaming. My eyes were watering. I was hungry. So, forgive the hurried plated shot. The gravy was simply the pan juices strained and separated. Whatever you do, don’t throw this out. It was amazing.

Footnote: Now for the bit that you will not believe. My Man Flu was gone the next morning. Completely restored and clear. Even if the garlic, lemon, rosemary and sage didn’t actually cure me. It was really delicious.

I encourage you to try this simple, flavoursome dish. “Mmmmm.” (Sound of Man breathing deeply and clearly).