Orange Glazed Roasted Chicken
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 whole organic chicken
- 2 sage leaf stems
- 2 rosemary stems
- 5-6 organo stems
- 1 lemon cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp grass fed butter
- salt
- juice from 1 orange
- 1 tp honey
- 1 knob fresh grated ginger
- 1 tsp paprika
- freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Take the inside gizzards out of the chicken and discard. Using scissors, but the tail part as well as any excess skin around the cavity. Salt inside cavity and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or in the fridge the night before you'll cook it.
Pat the chicken dry and stuff the cavity with lemons and all the herbs. Using twine, tie the two hind legs together so everything stays inside during cooking.
Use your fingers to separate the skin starting at the top of the breast, down the entire length of it. Take the butter in your fingers and massage it under the skin ( tip: to get all the way towards the leg area its helpful to use your hands on the outside of the skin to help push the butter down). Top the skin with freshly ground pepper and place in an iron cast pan (or rack for chicken ) and in the cold oven breast in first.
Preheat the oven to 425F (the chicken is in there!) and begin to make your sauce. Juice the orange, grate the ginger and whisk together in a bowl with the honey and paprika and set aside.
Once the oven reaches the temperature let it cook for 20 minutes. Remove and baste half the sauce on the chicken with a silicone brush. Cook for another 10 minutes, with the chicken turned 180 degrees and facing the oven door. Remove in 10 minutes and baste the rest of the sauce onto the chicken. Use a spoon to gather the sauce around and baste it over the chicken as well.
Cook for another 15 minutes, removing at least once to baste its own juices from the pan onto it. Shut the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before cutting.
Once the chicken is cut, serve with fresh herbs, and pour sauce from the pan over it.
Notes
You'll have extra sauce left over which is part your basting liquid, schmaltz and butter. Save this in a jar in the fridge and the fats will separate. Reuse the cooking fat for grilling mushrooms, topping toast or frying eggs and the gravy underneath to add dimension and depth into your roasted vegetables.
One of my least favorite proteins. It always seems to be bland, no matter what sauces or seasonings you attempt to throw into it. Overcook it and its rubbery texture will make itself known even in the most proficient sauce. Undercook it and you risk a trip the ER. I needed a challenge to make this bird delicious, and because one challenge is not enough, to up the ante chicken is also what I decided to serve as the main for Thanksgiving. Thankfully it was amazing, and did not turn into a horror show, holiday was after all one to be thankful for, but more so that it couldn’t have been mistaken for Halloween. So to save everyones palate, increase appetites and avoid unnecessary holiday drama this recipe is it for any gathering, or you know Wednesday night. Roasting in my opinion is the only way to go.
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