pollastro Arrosto

Chicken Roasted with Orange, cinnamon, and rosewater

Here's my twist on a roast chicken that would have graced the tables of Medieval Italian nobility. It's worthy of your most noble guests, but quick and easy enough for a weeknight supper. Just pop the chicken into the fridge in its marinade in the morning, and with less than 15 minutes prep in the evening, it will be ready to roast.

This extraordinary combination of flavors has its roots in 14th century Italy.

The original recipe is found in Maestro Martino’s ‘Libro De Arte Coquinaria’. It reads…

Roast Chicken

To prepare roast chicken, you must roast it; and when it is cooked take orange juice or verjuice with rose water, sugar, and cinnamon, and place the chicken on a platter; and pour this mixture over it and send it to table.

To prepare roast chicken, you must roast it. Thank you. Very useful. Do write that down.

Verjuice, if you're unfamiliar with it, is made by pressing unripe grapes. These must be those sour grapes we've heard about, because it's very sour.

The sweet oranges that we enjoy today were unheard of in 14th century Europe; this recipe predates their arrival by about 200 years. The orange juice called for in this recipe would have come from sour oranges. If you have some wild sour orange trees growing in the back of your property (I do) and it happens to be the season when they're ripe (it is), you're in luck. Otherwise, sour oranges may be difficult to come by.

But I'm thinking...pouring juice over an already roasted chicken isn't going to add much flavor to the bird. What I'm envisioning is a rich, shiny, sticky glaze over crispy roast chicken skin. And to me, sour orange juice with sugar sounds like a combination that desperately wants to be bitter orange marmalade. That will give me the richly flavored, shiny, sticky glaze that I want!

Finding rosewater in a European recipe came as a surprise to me. I think of rosewater as a Middle Eastern, or an Indian, ingredient. I stirred some rosewater into the marmalade and tasted it. My mouth was happy.

I decided to marinate the chicken before roasting it, for maximum flavor. This marinade is so basic that it barely can be called a recipe. I combined orange juice, the sweet kind, with lemon juice. That gave me the flavor of orange and made it sour. To prevent the citrus from "cooking" the chicken (like what happens with ceviche), I added some olive oil. Then the chicken and the marinade went into a zip bag and hung out in the fridge for 3 hours while I did other things.

As for the chicken, I used skin-on, bone-in thighs, because that's my personal favorite. You could use any parts you like, or a whole cut-up bird, or a whole, uncut chicken. Just be sure to use chicken with bones and skin for this recipe.

Pollastro Arrosto

Ingredients:

• bone-in, skin-on chicken—you can use a whole chicken or any parts you like

• 1 cup orange juice, preferably fresh squeezed

• the juice of half a lemon—if your lemon isn’t very juicy, you may want to use more. Just taste.

• 3 tablespoons fruity Italian olive oil, plus a bit more for cooking

• kosher salt (leave it out if you're using pre-salted kosher chicken)

• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• garlic powder

• cinnamon

• 1/2 cup bitter orange marmalade

• 2 tablespoons rosewater

• Optional: Culinary grade rose petals to garnish

Method:

• Clean, wash, and trim the excess fat from your chicken.

• In a zip bag large enough to hold all the chicken (or whatever container you like to use for marinating), combine the orange juice and lemon juice with the 3 tablespoons olive oil.

• Add the chicken to the bag, press out the air, and squish it about to make sure that all of the chicken gets comfy with the marinade. Let the chicken rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and up to 8 hours maximum.

• Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat it dry.

• Preheat oven to 375°.

• In a small bowl, stir together the marmalade and the rosewater until well combined. Note: If you have a lot of chicken, you may need more glaze. Just keep the proportions the same.

• For parts:

  • Place the chicken, skin side down, on a cutting board. rub the chicken pieces on all sides with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cinnamon. Use your judgement when it comes to how much to use. Don't be skimpy with the garlic and cinnamon, but don't go crazy, either!

  • Warm an oven-safe skillet large enough to hold all the chicken on the stove top. Add a thin coating of oil, then add the chicken parts, skin side up. Cook over medium/high heat to sear the bottom of the chicken, about 5 minutes.

  • Remove the skillet from the stovetop and slide the pan into the preheated oven and roast for about 45 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through and the skin is somewhat browned.

• For a whole chicken: Season the chicken as directed above, inside and out.

  • Warm an oven-safe skillet large enough to hold the bird. Add a thin coating of oil, then put the chicken, breast-side up, into the pan.

  • Cook over medium/high heat for about 5 minutes or so, until the skin on the bottom is nicely browned. Remove the pan from the heat.

  • Carefully roll the chicken over using tongs or two forks. Be careful not to burn yourself; that pan is hot! Use a basting brush to brush some of the glaze over the underside of the bird; then roll it back over, breast side up.

  • Slide the pan into the pre-heated oven. Don't add glaze to the top of the bird at this time. Roast for about an hour, more or less according to the size of your chicken. A thermometer inserted into the thick part of the thigh should register 165°.

• Remove the pan from the oven. Remember, even a "stay cool" handle is hot from the oven! Use mitts or potholders. Brush the chicken with half the glaze and return it to the oven. Roast it for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the glaze and roast it until the glaze is glistening and browned like in the photo, another 5 minutes or so.

• Place the chicken on a platter and send it to the table. You can scatter some preserved rose petals over the top if you like—it makes a nice presentation.