Whole Chicken Confit

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp leaf masala

1 tbsp paprika

177g cherry tomatoes, whole with stem

220g carrots/or about 4 whole/scrubbed/optional

200 grams small potatoes, cut in half/optional

2 whole garlics, topped off

5 star anise

3 bay leaf

1 lemon, halved

850ml olive oil/will need 1 liter if adding the extra vegetables, or enough to cover

25g fresh sage

100ml rapeseed oil

¼ tsp salt

Method:

Heat oven to 160C. First take off legs. Then take off breasts, leaving you with four quarters. Save the carcass for broth and set aside. Place in a large oven proof pot. Season the chicken very well with all of the seasoning and let it sit and marinate for about 20 minutes. Make a little nest from the vegetables and put in the star anise and bay leaf. Slowly add the oil, making sure most of the chicken is submerged inside. Cook the chicken for 2 hrs., checking periodically to make sure the chicken is under the oil at all times, as you may need to rearrange. The oil should be about 60 degrees, as this is like a sous vide oil bath. Depending upon your oven temperature, you may need to adjust and lower to 130/140C. 

When cooked, take out of oven and let it cool for ten minutes. Then, pull the chicken and vegetables carefully out of the oil. Remove any lose bones (they will easily fall out) leaving only the big bones. Using a couple of tbsp of the cooking oil, fry the skin of each of the chicken. Then fry the potatoes and carrots. 

In a separate small pot, heat the rapeseed oil. Deep fry the sage, in batches, and dry on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.  

Very finely slice some of the lemon into slivers. 

Serve the chicken with vegetables, garlic, lemon slivers, and fried sage on one big platter. Can be eaten at room temperature. Drizzle dish with a tbsp of cooking oil.