Roast Chicken with Spiced Pistachio Nuts and Cranberries
A Roast Chicken That Is Sure To Stimulate The Taste Buds
This dish comes with layers of flavour from Tom Kime, private chef and food consultant. Serve on a bright blue patterned plate to complete the image of the sumptuous jewelled chicken that would not be out of place at a royal oriental banquet. Tom Kime, private chef and food consultant who has worked with Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver (even cooking at his wedding), brings exotic flavours from around the world into your home. Create this roast chicken in your kitchen with layers of flavour that are sure to stimulate the taste buds. The garnish, the bright jewels of the dark red berries and the pink and green of the pistachio nuts against the crisp golden skin of the chicken. This could be served on a bright blue patterned plate from Morocco or Turkey to complete the image of the sumptuous jewelled chicken that would not be out of place at a royal oriental banquet.
DIFFICULTY
Easy
SERVING
4
INGREDIENTS
- 1 baby chicken or spatchcock per person (it is very easy to bulk up the stuffing if you are making this dish for more people).
- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 fresh red chilli de-seeded and finely chopped
- 3 onions finely sliced
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
- 4 bay leaves
- Zest and juice of 2 lemons
- 100g dried cranberries
- 100g pistachio nuts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
- Pre-heat the oven 180°C/ 350°F. Mix the finely chopped garlic and chilli with the thin sliced onions. Heat a little oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat and then the sliced onions. Cook on a medium heat until they start to caramelise. In a bowl mix the lemon zest and juice and the bay leaves and mix with the dried fruits and nuts. Add to the cooked onions and mix together. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- If the small chickens are whole, then stuff them with a generous amount of stuffing. If the chickens have been spatchcocked with (meaning that the back bone has been removed and the birds have been flattened, then arrange the stuffing underneath and around the birds. Heat a little oil in a heavy bottomed ovenproof pan season the chickens on the outside with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Brown the small chickens in the pan on both breasts and the back. When browned transfer the pan to the oven and roast until cooked.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes or until the meat is tender basting regularly with all the roasting juices (If roasting a larger chicken, allow longer cooking time. Usually 1 hour to 1 hour 20.). To check that the meat is ready, insert the point of a small knife by the thighbone and see if the juices run clear.
- To serve spoon the stuffing out of the chickens and scatter the be-jewelled mixture over the top of the birds. Serve the small roasted chickens on a large platter surrounded by roast potatoes or with a fresh salad of bitter and peppery leaves.
NOTE:
- There will be lots of layers of different flavours with in the chicken. The meat and the onions will be deliciously sweet. The dried fruits are both sweet and sour along with the lemon juice. The fresh chilli and the black pepper is hot and spicy. The combination will mean that there is a balance of flavour that stimulates all the taste buds.
