Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it. Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas 3.

Lay the leafy stalks from the cauliflowers in a large roasting tray (to sit the chicken on). Set the cauliflower heads aside.

In a small bowl, mix the extra-virgin olive oil with the garlic, chopped thyme and a little salt and pepper. Carefully insert your fingers under the skin of the chicken breasts and loosen the skin from the breasts. Push most of the olive oil mixture under the skin and spread it over the breast meat with your fingers. Sit the chicken on the cauliflower stalks.

Trickle the remaining olive oil mix over the surface of the chicken and rub in well with your hands. Season with pepper and crumble the stock cube evenly over. Cover the tray with foil and seal it to the rim of the tray all round. Cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

In the meantime, break the cauliflower into florets. When the time is up, take the tray from the oven and lift off the foil. Turn the oven up to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7. While it is coming up to temperature, add the cauliflower florets to the roasting tray and pour in the chicken stock.

Place the tray on the bottom shelf of the oven. Roast for 30–40 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown all over and the cauliflower is cooked, basting the chicken with the juices halfway through.

For the toasted sourdough, 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, scatter the sourdough chunks on a small baking tray. Drizzle with the 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on the top shelf of the oven for 15–20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the sourdough and mix well. Remove the chicken from the oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes before carving. Serve the chicken with the roasted cauliflower and toasted sourdough, spooning over the pan juices.