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This is the first proper dinner I’ve cooked in over a month. I’ve cooked food, but nothing that requires any particular thought, skill or creativity. God bless the summer holidays where I have time and energy to play with the various items in my kitchen!

This recipe is featuring this spice blend which I was sent for free from Spice Way. Just look at those colours!

I was sent three mixes, but this one just caught my eye immediately with those gorgeous pink petals! Let me assure you that it tastes and smells just as good as it looks!

To feed two hungry people you will need:

For the chicken…

A whole chicken

330ml can (must be a tall can) of beer – I used Estrella

80ml of dark rum

2 cloves of garlic

Butter – 50g (ish – measure with your heart)

15ml and a separate 30ml of the Heavenly Herbs mix

For the coleslaw…

1/8 White & red cabbage

2 carrots

2 spring onions

½ a red onion

Baxter’s red slaw

150g crème fraîche

150g mayonnaise

1tsp horseradish sauce

1tsp mustard

* Measure all of these by taste and visuals – my measurements are all approximate.

To prepare the chicken…

Ridiculous looking, isn’t it?

But worth it for those results!

1. Set your oven to the required temperature to cook your chicken. Lower your oven shelf as the chicken will be upright rather than lying flat!
2. Pour out/drink ¼ of your can of beer and top it back up with the rum. Chuck in your crushed garlic and 15ml of the spice blend.
3. Shove the beer can up the chicken’s bum(!), and sit it upright on a roasting tray.
4. Beat the butter until softened and mix the 30ml of the spice blend. I didn’t measure exactly, but it should be more spice blend than butter. The spice blend is quite chunky so I ran it through my blender first to get a smoother dust for this, but you could leave it!
5. Cover the chicken as best you can – I found this a bit messy and tricky!
6. I always chuck water into my roasting tin to avoid anything burning into it, and it also makes a good base for your gravy!
7. Roast the chicken and make sure you baste frequently.
8. Rest for 15-20 minutes before you carve it up.
9. Empty the beer can into the roasting pan and give it a good mix, then pass the mixture through a sieve before putting into your gravy boat.

To prepare the coleslaw:

1. Shred cabbage leaves finely.
2. Cut spring onions finely.
3. Finely slice the red onion.
4. Grate the carrot.
5. Add the shredded vegetables and pickled cabbage in gradually and make sure you have a good mix of colours. Then add equal parts creme fraiche and mayonnaise to coat the vegetables, and add horseradish and mustard to taste.

I served the chicken with my coleslaw and fries – specifically McCain’s Shake Shake fries as they’re the only ready-made fries I like, and I couldn’t be bothered making my own!

The chicken was seriously moist and tender due to the beer steam, butter and basting, and the flavour from the gravy was absolutely unreal.

The gravy had a gorgeous sweetness from the beer, and the rum enhanced that with a slight stickiness. There are 15 ingredients which make up the spice blend, so I can’t even tell you what I was tasting, just that as a complete mixture it was absolutely heavenly….as the name suggests!

The tubs cost £4 for 100g, and it’s a 100g tub I was sent. It’s huge and it’ll last me ages! I’m so keen to try my other two, so keep your eyes open for future posts!

You can find Spice Way at http://www.spicewayuk.com and on social media with the handle @SpiceWayUK