Citrus Spiced Roast Chicken Recipes

CITRUS ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the giblets from the cavity and throw away. Remove any other packing materials. Rise the chicken in cold water - both outside and inside the cavity. Pat dry with a paper towel. Generously season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper. Slice one lemon and one orange in half, and squeeze the juice from one half of the lemon and one half of the orange. Remove any seeds and pour into a small bowl. Stir in the olive oil, finely chopped garlic, half of the oregano, and half of the basil. You will use this mixture to baste the chicken. Loosely chop the remaining lemon and orange. Stuff the chicken with the loosely chopped garlic and the chopped lemon and orange. Tie the chicken legs together to help hold the citrus in place. You can use butchers twine, or you can fold up aluminum foil and wrap it around the legs and twist together. Place the chicken breast side up on a roasting pan. In a small bowl, stir together the butter and the remaining oregano and basil. Rub the seasoned butter all over the chicken and then sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Brush some of the lemon and orange juice mixture over the chicken. Once the oven is preheated, place the chicken on a middle rack. As the chicken roasts, you want to make sure that the pan drippings do not burn. Add chicken broth and/or white wine to the bottom of the pan as necessary to prevent the drippings from burning. Baste the chicken every 20 minutes with the lemon and orange juice mixture. The generally accepted cooking time for roast chicken is 20 minutes per pound. Julia Child used the formula 45 minutes plus 7 minutes per pound of meat. Regardless of the formula, you decide to use, you need to cook the chicken until a meat thermometer placed in the inner thigh reads 170 degrees. I like to use an in-oven thermometer that measures the temperature of the chicken while it cooks. Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and tent with foil. Use the drippings from the pan to make gravy. Add any leftover basting mixture to the gravy. Let the chicken sit for a total of 10 minutes before carving.

CITRUS-SPICED ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Mix marmalade, chipotle peppers, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and cumin. With fingers, carefully loosen skin from chicken; rub mixture under the skin., Place chicken on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, breast side up. Tuck wings under chicken; tie drumsticks together. Rub skin with remaining salt. Roast 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 170°-175°, covering with foil halfway through cooking to prevent overbrowning., Remove chicken from oven; let stand, loosely covered, 15 minutes before carving. Remove and discard skin before serving.

CITRUS PAN-ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• To spatchcock the chicken: Put the chicken breast-side down on a work surface and use poultry shears to cut along both sides of the backbone. Open up the chicken and use the tip of a knife to score alongside the keel bone (the dark oblong bone in the middle of the breast); this makes it easier to flatten. Turn the chicken breast-side up and press down strongly with the heel of your hand on the center of the breast. You should hear a crack and feel the bones give way.
• Refrigerate the chicken, skin-side up and uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours to air-dry. Remove and allow to air-dry at room temperature for an additional 30 minutes before cooking.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Halve the lemons, then slice one of the lemon halves into rounds. Using your index finger, separate the skin of the chicken from the meat and slide the lemon slices underneath the skin. Season the chicken with salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.
• In a large cast-iron pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin-side down and cook until the skin is well browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Scatter the thyme and rosemary on top (leave the chicken skin-side down) and place the 3 remaining lemon halves in the pan cut-side down. Transfer to the oven and roast until the juices run clear and an instant-read thermometer inserted in a thigh registers 165 degrees F, about 40 minutes. Rest the chicken on a plate or baking sheet skin-side up for 20 minutes before carving. Squeeze the roasted lemons over as desired.

CITRUS-MUSTARD ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, grind mustard seed to a powder; transfer to a small bowl. Stir in oil, chervil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Rub over outside and inside of chicken; place on a large plate. Refrigerate, covered, overnight., Preheat oven to 350°. Place chicken in a shallow roasting pan, breast side up. Loosely stuff chicken with orange, lemon, onion and parsley. Tuck wings under chicken; tie drumsticks together., Roast 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hours or until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 170°-175°. (Cover loosely with foil if chicken browns too quickly.) Remove chicken from oven; tent with foil. Let stand 15 minutes before carving.

CITRUS-GARLIC ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Put the chicken in a large nonmetalic bowl. Put the orange and lime zests in a small bowl and add the fruit juices. Whisk in the olive oil, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and a generous grind of black pepper. Pour the marinade over the chicken and toss until well coated. Marinate for 20 to 30 minutes but no longer than 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put a rack on a rimmed baking sheet. With tongs, remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and arrange them on the rack leaving space between each piece. Drizzle a small spoonful of the marinade over the top of each chicken piece; season well with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear when meat is pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes.
• Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Cool slightly before serving or let stand until room temperature before refrigerating for later use.

CITRUS AND CUMIN ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Remove the zest from 2 orange wedges and 2 lime wedges and set aside.
• Rub chicken with juice of those wedges.
• Season the entire chicken, including the cavity, with the cumin, salt and pepper to taste.
• Inside the cavity, place the used orange and lime wedges, plus 3 orange wedges, 3 lime wedges, 2 cloves of garlic and 3 sprigs of oregano.
• Place a small roasting pan over high heat and add the oil.
• When the oil smokes, place the chicken, breast-side down in the pan.
• Sear, rolling slightly for even browning, until the breast is golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Remove the chicken from the pan, slip a flat rack on bottom of pan, then place the chicken on the rack, breast-side up.
• Add the stock, remaining garlic cloves and a couple more sprigs of oregano to the pan.
• Squeeze the juice of the 7 orange wedges and remaining lime wedges into the pan, adding the juiced wedges to the pan as well.
• Roast until the chicken juices run clear when the leg is pieced near the joint, about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• Check the moisture in the pan a few times while cooking, adding chicken broth if the pan juices are drying up.
• Transfer chicken to a warm platter, and allow it to rest for 20 minutes before carving. Remove the fruit wedges, oregano and garlic from the pan, then place the pan juices in a small saucepan.
• Bring to a simmer over medium heat, taste and adjust seasoning, adding more orange juice from the remaining wedges if desired.
• Remove from heat and add the reserved zest. Carve the chicken and serve with the sauce.