Roast chicken with peaches, honey and lavender

A perfect summer dish. It takes little effort and is great to serve in the garden. Don’t go mad with the lavender, it will taste sickly if you use too much.

 SERVES 4 – 6 

• 3 tbsp olive oil 

• sea salt flakes and pepper 

• 1.8kg (4lb) chicken, skin-on, jointed into 8, or 8 good-sized skin-on bone-in chicken thighs

•  200ml (7fl oz) medium white wine

•  3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar 

• 4 tbsp lavender honey 

• 5 small, slightly under-ripe peaches 

• 8 sprigs of fresh lavender

•  Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5. 

• Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan, season the chicken joints and brown them on each side so they get a good colour. You can do this in batches.

• Put the chicken joints or thighs into a very large, broad, shallow ovenproof dish (both the chicken and the peaches need to be able to lie snugly together in a single layer).

• Pour the oil out of the pan but don’t clean it. Return it to the heat and deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping to dislodge all the bits of flavour there. Boil this until it has reduced to about 100ml (3½fl oz), than add 1½ tbsp each of the balsamic vinegar and honey. Stir to dissolve the honey, then pour over the chicken.

• Halve and pit the peaches and cut each half in two. Dot these in around the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Brush each piece of peach with a little olive oil, then whisk the remaining honey and balsamic together with a fork. Drizzle this over the chicken and peaches and scatter with the lavender (leave some sprigs of lavender whole, use just the flowers from others).

• Roast in the hot oven for 40 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through and glazed with the honey and the peaches should be slightly caramelized in patches. If you stick the tip of a sharp knife into the underside of a thigh, the juice that runs out should be clear.

• Serve in the dish in which the chicken has cooked (you can transfer it all to a warmed platter if you prefer, but be careful as the peaches will be soft and could easily fall apart). Serve with olive oil-roast potatoes and green beans.