I spent the day with my Gran (before she died) watching the food channel on Sky. She has Sky at Wellsford. We had no TV at Waiwera – far too busy for that sort of distraction.

So I watched Gordon Ramsay swear at everyone, lots of other people cook fabulous desserts, and saw an advert for a programme scheduled later in the evening that was roast chicken with bacon. It looked yummy, but I couldn’t wait till the evening for the programme to start as I had to start cooking tea earlier. So I improvised and came up with something rather yummy…

You’ll need:

• Large chicken (size 20 or bigger)
• 1 large onion
• 2 large tomatoes
• 4 rashers of shoulder bacon
• Mint, parsely and basil

Cut one tomato and the onion into quarters. Trim the fat and rind off the bacon. Finely chop equal quantities of mint, parsely, and basil (about half a cup’s worth when chopped and combined).

Shove the quartered onion and tomato along with most of the herbs and one rasher of bacon into the chicken as a stuffing.

Then layer the rest of the bacon across the breasts and legs of the chicken. Finely slice the remaining tomato and lay slices over the bacon, then top with remaining herbs.

Cook uncovered in a medium oven until juices run clear and the chicken and bacon are browned. Serve with chargrilled vegetables (potatoes, pumpkin, capsicum, courgettes, onion, and garlic chopped into small chunks and drizzled with lots of oil then baked in an open tray and tossed occassionally during cooking).

It’s probably nothing like what the man on the food channel was cooking, but we all liked it.