My Μothers Citrus and Honey-Glazed Chicken
“But my favourite remained the basic roast chicken. What a deceptively simple dish. I had come to believe that one can judge the quality of a cook by his or her roast chicken. Above all, it should taste like chicken: it should be so good that even a perfectly simple, roast should be a delight.”
Julia Child “My Life in France”
This is my mother, Yolanda’s, favourite chicken recipe.
It is cooked in a casserole dish.
I must admit, it remains my favourite chicken dish, too.
And it is so simple…
I love matching my this chicken chicken with wild rice or my “Multicolour quinoa salad with orange and pistachio nuts” that you can find on p. 166 of my book, SANDRA LOVES.
I love matching my this chicken chicken with wild rice or my “Multicolour quinoa salad with orange and pistachio nuts” that you can find on p. 166 of my book, SANDRA LOVES.
Citrus and Honey-Glazed Chicken
Ingedients
1 lemon, cut in quarters
1 whole chicken, washed and dried
1 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root,
peeled and grated
½ cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons honey
salt, just a pinch
black pepper, freshly ground
½ cup sherry
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Cut the lemon into quarters. Rub the outside of the chicken with one quarter, and discard. Put the remaining 3 lemon quarters inside the belly of the chicken.
2. Citrus juice mixture: In a bowl, combine lemon and orange juice, honey, soy sauce, sherry, garlic and ginger.
3. Place the chicken in the casserole dish, breast side up, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Pour the citrus juice mixture over the chicken.
4. Cover the casserole with its lid and place the chicken in the oven. Roast for 1 3/4 hours basting occasionally with pan juices. Increase the heat to 180°C (350°F) and cook for another 20 minutes. During the last twenty minutes of cooking, remove the lid and allow the chicken to brown.
5. Transfer to a serving platter and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Carve the chicken. Meanwhile, pass the pan juices through a sieve and serve the strained juices on the side with the chicken.
Serves 4