Roast chicken with sausage and apricot stuffing

Put onion and garlic in a small saucepan with 1 tablespoon butter. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 10 minutes until soft. Drain apricots, reserving liquid, and chop roughly.

Slit sausage skins with a small knife and extract meat. Chop roughly. Heat oil in a medium non-stick pan over medium heat. Add sausage meat and cook for several minutes until it loses its pinkness, stirring once or twice. Add onion and garlic, scraping in the buttery juices, and cook for a few minutes until the onion starts to brown. Add thyme, apricots, ¼ tsp salt and black pepper to taste. Cool. Reserve pan.

Preheat oven to 200°C (fan forced). Rinse chicken inside and out, then dry cavity with paper towels. Season cavity with a little salt. Spoon in the stuffing. Secure cavity with toothpicks, then tie chicken with string to keep it in good shape. Put chicken in a small roasting tin and smear with remaining butter. Season with a little salt. Pour 1 cup stock around the chicken.

Cook chicken for about 1½ hours, until a deep golden brown and cooked through. Baste often and turn chicken over after about 25 minutes. Turn it breast up again after a further 25 minutes, then continue cooking breast up. Keep stock topped up; don’t let the juices catch and burn. Transfer chicken to a board and rest it for 15 minutes, loosely draped with tinfoil.

Meanwhile, add apricot liquid to the pan used for browning the sausage meat. Set pan over a low heat and bring juices to a bubble. Scrape up any sediment and bubble juices for 2-3 minutes. Next, tilt roasting tin and scoop off fat. Add apricot liquid to tin and bubble up. Carve chicken, scoop out stuffing and arrange on a heated platter. Pour over juices and serve.