Fabulous Friday night dinner

Ingredients:

• 1 giantly fat and organic chicken (I got mine from the Chop Shop butcher at Coco's on Ipswich Rd)
• 2 lemons
• Dried tarragon leaves
• Rock salt, olive oil
• 1 bag small kipfler or fingerling potatoes
• couple cloves of garlic
• 1 bag green beans

And that is IT. Rub the chicken all over with the olive oil and salt. Separate the skin from the breast and stuff some tarragon in there, and stuff some more inside the cavity, and rudely stuff some more into any other crevices the chicken may wantonly display. Don't forget its armpits.

Squeeze one of the lemons over the chicken and give it another good rub. Shove the empty lemon halves up the chicken's bum. The chicken's embarrassment will be your triumph. Roast away in oven as usual.

Meanwhile, parboil the potatoes. Don't bother peeling them. Cool and drain, then cut into thick slices. Slosh some olive oil into a heavy cast-iron frying pan or similar. Heat it good. Throw potatoes in and resist temptation to stir the pan: only about once every 5 minutes should do it. Keep the heat firing. The potatoes will grow golden crispy-fried surfaces and you will gaze upon them with drool, safe in the knowledge that its ONLY olive oil and you know EXACTLY how much went into the pan. When they are a deep, deep golden brown and crisped beyond belief (this took mine about 15 mins) squeeze the garlic cloves over them. Remove from heat.

Boil a giant pot of water, then throw in the beans. Let the water come back to the boil, then drain them. Return them to the empty pot with some chopped-up lemon flesh (no seeds or skin) and cook gently for a minute or so.

Let the sweet, sweet chicken rest for ten minutes on the bench before you carve it up. Allow it to wallow in the knowledge that it died for the greater good.

Serving suggestion: eat this while watching TransAmerica and curled up under a blanket on the couch.