Honey roast chicken with outstanding roasties

Honey roast chicken with outstanding roasties

This recipe is taken from the Incredible Spice Men book by Cyrus Todiwala and Tony Singh. It’s ace, buy it.

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg/2lb 10oz chicken

For the marinade:

  • 6 tbsp honey
  • 50g/1¾oz fresh root ginger, chopped
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed or olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the roast potatoes:

  • 1-1.2kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 10oz floury potatoes, peeled and cut roughly into
  • 5cm/2in chunks
  • 100ml/3½fl oz rapeseed oil or vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp dried sage
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder (optional)

Method

  1. In a blender or mini food-processor, blend together all of the
    marinade ingredients to a fine paste. Taste and adjust the seasoning
    to taste.
  2. Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper. Put it in a dish and rub the
    marinade all over it and if time allows let it rest for an hour or so in
    the fridge.
  3. Preheat an oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
  4. Put the chicken in a roasting tin and baste with the marinade,
    reserving any extra. Bake the chicken for one hour. Cover the
    chicken loosely with aluminium foil after the first 10-15 minutes or
    the honey in the marinade will burn. Baste the chicken a few times
    during cooking, adding some of the reserved marinade if it starts to
    look dry.
  5. To cook the potatoes, preheat an oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
  6. Put the prepared potatoes in a pan of salted water, bring to the boil, then
    reduce the heat and simmer for seven minutes. Meanwhile, pour the
    oil into a large roasting tin and put into the oven for five minutes until
    hot.
  7. Drain the potatoes well, allow to steam, then return to the pan in which the were cooked. Cover the pan and shake the potatoes about – you want to bash up their edges but not break them up. Gently transfer them to the hot roasting tin, turn them about in the hot oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast on the top shelf for 30 minutes, then turn them and roast for a further 20–30 minutes or until crisp and golden-brown.
  8. After the chicken has been roasting for an hour, check whether it is cooked. (The meat is cooked when a thin skewer or a thick needle inserted in the thigh joint produces a clear liquid.) Transfer to a serving dish, cover the chicken with foil and allow it to rest for five minutes before you carve it.
  9. Meanwhile, strain the liquid from the roasting tin into a small pan, adjust the seasoning to taste and keep warm.
  10. Mix together the sage, chilli powder, bouillon powder and garlic powder if using, to make a spice mix. Remove the potatoes from the oven, set them on a plate lined with kitchen paper, and sprinkle over the spice mix.
  11. Joint and serve the roast chicken alongside the roast potatoes, drizzled with the juices from the roasting pan.