Dine in for a Tenner from M&S

I love this deal from Marks and Spencer! Stuart and I walked into M&S in Covent Garden purely by chance on Sunday and found that far from offering some really cheap bit and pieces, there were some good stuff that were part of the offer. So good I decided to get a £20 deal :)

Main course? Whole uncooked chickens. I thought it was slightly odd that they had both medium and large chickens as part of the deal. Of course I was going to get the large ones! They would have cost me about £8.50 each without the offer. Score! :)
Sides? Ultimate Posh Mash and Red Cabbage
Dessert? Apple and Blackberry sponge pudding and Sticky Toffee Pudding (Did hope to get the Hot Chocolate Fudge Pudding but they had sold out -drat!)
Wine? Vino Frizzante Chardonnay Rose and Pheasant Gully Cabernet Merlot (both of which have become cooking wines)

Not bad I thought. I was most excited about the chickens to be honest. One of which went into the oven last night sprinkled with salt and black pepper in a 180 °C oven for about 2 hours (it's a big chicken!). It came out nice and juicy. Putting the bird aside to rest, I made gravy using the chicken juices, the fizzy rose (if you were a wine snob ... it was probably a terrible wine.. haha) and some flour. Whilst that was simmering on the hob, I heated the mash and cabbage in the microwave. And......ding! Dinner was served. Brilliant! Minimal effort from me :)

Verdict?
The chicken was lovely - nice and juicy. Really liked the fact that it looked like a more fully grown bird with it's bones bigger and not like a 2 day old chick on hormones. The mash was loaded with butter but a bit "processed" (according to Stuart) but I was quite happy eating it. Red cabbage was cooked with apples and was nicely sweet. No dessert - we were stuffed with mash and chicken. And there's still half a chicken left, plenty for lots of chicken salads and sandwiches.