We make then for granddaughter, as her tastes are conservative to say the least. So far she hasn’t complained that they are fakes… She’s not too convinced by French milk tho’.
Helen, putting it under the grill turns it into a frittata.
Try cooking mushrooms and leeks first in the butter and then adding the eggs until partly set, then put under the grill.
Leave until cold and serve with a salad.
Yummy.
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Half a lemon, parsley and an onion in the cavity works well.
When we have the young tarragon, I make tarragon butter and put it under the skin before roasting.
Resting is essential as the juices go back into the flesh.
You can use some of this time to finish your veg and make the gravy.
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I was firmly told off at a vide grenier recently for saying I could get a chicken at Leclerc to fit the Le Creuset casserole I’d just bought.
“Oh you don’t buy chickens from there - get them from the farm!” I was told.
I was then given two farms’ addresses, to make sure I got a good chicken.
My recipe; Dijon mustard, pepper, piment d’espelette and oil mix firmly worked into the skin. Roast. But tarragon sounds very good, too.
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We use sumac and paprika as a skin rub for birds…equally nice
We were in the Alpujarras in October and couldn’t believe how inexpensive in general food was. A kilos of tomatoes for a single €. Even the speeding ticket was reasonable!
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Jane spot on - the thing about France is that, unless you travel around, you just don’t understand how bloody expensive it is! People who live in France are just so ripped off but - you don’t know what you don’t know!! 
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(shitty weather / idle hands!)
I have 14 future chicken-dinners growing nicely in their luxurious residence…all homemade & hatched in the kitchen…roll on summer !
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I think I’ll opt for Bob’s option…the carrefour ones are only 85% chicken plus a long list of other ingredients including injected water, added palm oil and assorted chemicals. May only be 10€, but no thanks.
When I am in different countries I do enjoy cheaper food, but I don’t live there. So all the different things that go to make up the food prices to the consumer, like labour protection, environmental standards, infrastructure and all the social health issues are not a concern to me. The stories I have read are horrific about the way the Spanish workforce who cultivate and harvest all those cheap veg are treated. And bits of Spain are environmentally knackered from the water used for veg. So cheap food in your basket can have a higher price to society.
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Jane it’s perfectly fine with me that you rarely eat meat and that, when you do, you can afford to pay much more than I can so that you feel you’re doing your bit for whichever society.
So it’s fine that you’re mostly veggie, it’s fine that you can afford to be socially and economically aware (except when you’re in different countries) …but me? Well I’m just a poor old carnivore trying to get by as best I can. I simply can’t afford your principles but I understand and accept them.
One thing though - I don’t need any lectures from you.
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I consider supermarkets to be the main culprits in the whole issue of cheap food etc…but, who can afford to buy “good quality, wholesome food”?!
The difference between what folks earn & what they should expect to be able to eat, at a reasonable price, has become beyond all understanding.
I do what I do, because I prefer to know the provenance of most of what I eat…however, this isn’t possible for everyone…that said, Spanish / French producers should be able to draw a decent wage from their production…but charges, etc., are outrageous; to the point where they prefer to give away their crop than allow it to rot in the field…what does that say about the way we regard where our food comes from?
I still however buy food from the “dates courtes” aisle at Leclerc…mostly as I detest waste.
Each to his / her own, I say.
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Simon - investigate your local AMAP / local producers - makes eating locally and sustainably totally affordable and a lot cheaper than the supermarkets.
On the downside - we have just spend two hours reducing pig fat and cooking a pigs head - bloody delish meat though! X
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Yep Bob - I do the ‘dates courtes’ thing as well - all the stuff on offer is perfectly edible for quite some time after the date.
I didn’t mean for this post to turn into some kind of moral dilemma thing - I remember all too well being lambasted for my comments about cheap NZ lamb, cheap Chilean seedless grapes and cheap Spanish blueberries.
The issues were around carbon footprint and not supporting the local market - but I can’t afford to!
The aircraft bringing the NZ lamb to me was going to fly anyway - I doubt my large 15€ leg was strapped into a first class seat!! Same with the seedless Chilean grapes, the plane was coming anyway and I don’t want the local seeded ones at double the price. I guess the blueberries from Spain come by road - but again, they are way cheaper (and bigger, juicier etc) than the ones from the blueberry farm down the road from me! It’s a joke.
I think I’m living in the real world - that’s the one I can afford.
Hi Catharine - I will and thanks for the tip. In fact I’ve found it already in Pamiers : https://www.apam-amap.org/ - brilliant! 
I’m not actually wagging a finger and lecturing, just pointing out an alternative viewpoint. I should probably have said cheap food in “one’s” basket rather than “your”, as you are not the only price based carnivore around.
We were stunned by low food prices on recent trip to Porto, but also equally stunned by brilliant vege and vegan restaurants so not a drop of red blood needed to be spilled to eat really, really well!
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I made a brawn for my ninety three year old French friend, with just a little spice and sauce gribiche to go with it.
As I said, each to his / her own.
I appear to have become poorer every year since I moved here, but have made efforts to live within my increasingly limited means.
Life doesn’t get any cheaper.
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I suddenly had a picture flash in my mind of a frozen leg of lamb with ‘Simon A’ on the wrapping sitting all alone in Economy.
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Too true.