There are certain things you miss when you leave France. The bread is one. The cheese is another. And the rotisserie chicken vans at Sunday markets — golden birds turning slowly over their own dripping juices, the smell carrying halfway across the car park — are very much a third. This is my attempt to recreate that at Casa Adora without a rotisserie. A heavy herb and fennel rub, a low oven, three hours under foil, then thirty minutes uncovered to crisp the skin. Faux-tisserie — not quite the real thing, but close enough to scratch the itch.

Herbed faux-tisserie roast chicken — before and after three hours in the oven at Casa Adora

If you find yourself near Vera Playa, the Mercadona opposite has a rotisserie chicken van that comes pretty close to the French original. And in 2025, driving through France in the campervan, I pulled into a Revolution Laundry at a supermarket on a Sunday — the answer to van life laundry on the road — and found a rotisserie van just closing up. One chicken left. It was, as these things always are, exactly what was needed.

The herb and fennel rub is the heart of this herbed roast chicken — make more than you need and keep it in a jar.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 chicken, approximately 2kg
• 2 tbsp fennel seeds
• 2 tbsp dried mixed herbs
• 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 leek, roughly chopped
• 1 celery stick, roughly chopped
• A couple of potatoes, quartered
• Several garlic cloves
• A glass of dry white wine
• Olive oil

How to Make Herbed Faux-tisserie Roast Chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C.
2. In a pestle and mortar, grind the fennel seeds, red pepper flakes and black peppercorns together. Combine with the salt and dried herbs.
3. Rub the chicken all over with olive oil, then smother with the herb mix inside and out. Place one lemon half inside the cavity.
4. Put the vegetables, garlic cloves and remaining lemon half in a roasting pan. Arrange the potatoes around the edges. Pour in the wine and drizzle with a little oil.
5. Place the bird on top of the vegetables. Cover tightly with foil.
6. Roast for 3 hours, basting every hour.
7. Remove the foil and roast for a further 30 minutes until the skin is golden, the legs are falling away easily, and the vegetables are soft with a little colour.
8. Rest for 10–15 minutes before carving.

This herbed roast chicken rewards patience - three hours is not a long time. The fennel and pepper rub does what the rotisserie smoke does in France — it gets into the skin and stays there. Serve straight from the pan with the roasted vegetables and whatever wine is open. If you enjoy slow-roasted chicken, try the slow roast whole free-range chicken — the same unhurried approach with a different seasoning.

FOOTNOTE

This herbed roast chicken recipe is part of the Chicken Recipes hub — a complete collection of chicken and poultry recipes from Casa Adora and the road. Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef.