Recipe: Roast chicken with citrus

Serves 6

Preparation time: 15 min

Standing time: at least 1 hour

Cooking time: 1¼-1¾ hours

Citrus flavours and chicken make a wonderful taste combination. The reader who sent in this recipe forgot to add her name.

MARINADE

500 ml (2 c) orange juice

grated rind of 1 lemon

60 ml (¼ c) soy sauce

125 ml (½ c) soft brown sugar

15 ml (1 T) honey

1 red onion, quartered

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 ml (½ t) Tabasco sauce

15 ml (1 T) thyme and/or basil

3 ml (generous ½ t) prepared mustard

CHICKEN

1 whole chicken, trussed

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 orange, 2 lemons, 3 limes, quartered and sliced

whole garlic cloves, peeled

thyme sprigs

butter

chicken stock or water

plain yoghurt

MARINADE

Mix the ingredients.

CHICKEN

Pour the marinade over the chicken. Marinate for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight so the chicken is infused with the flavours.

Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper and put it in a roasting pan, breast side up. Arrange the citrus fruit, garlic and thyme around the chicken and pour over the marinade. Rub the chicken with butter and roast it for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 °C and roast for another 1-1½ hours or until the bird is juicy and done. Rub the chicken with extra butter and baste it with pan juices while roasting.

Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and arrange the citrus fruit around it. Add a little chicken stock or water to the pan juices and bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce to make a fragrant sauce. Stir in a little plain yoghurt and serve the chicken with the sauce and a fresh green salad.

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