Instructions

Preheat oven to 475F/240°C. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft but not brown (about 8 minutes). Add chopped-up mushrooms and thyme. Turn the heat up to high and fry for 5 minutes until the mushrooms go slightly crispy. Remove from heat and tip mushroom mix into a bowl and leave on the side to cool. 

Once the mixture has cooled, mix in dukkah or the nuts of your choice, and breadcrumbs, then add the egg. Carefully, push your fingers between the meat and the skin on the top of the chicken then gently create a pocket for stuffing.

Push half of the stuffing into each pocket on each breast and shape the rest of the remaining mixture into 2 balls and pop one inside the chicken cavity and one to a side. Sit the chicken inside a dutch oven on top of wedges of the other onion and season with salt and pepper, and place the individual mushroom ball next to it. 

Put the lid on and place the dutch pan in the preheated oven. Turn the heat down to 400F/200°C and cook covered for 50 minutes. After 50 mins take the lid off and return the pan to the oven for further 30 minutes until it is gorgeous and golden. Leave to rest for 10-15 minutes, then serve with cheesy pan-fried gnocchi or seasonal greens.