Another dinner party, another roast chicken. I don’t actually have that much more to say about this one, amazingly, other than that the original recipe comes from the magazine Real Simple, which the middle-aged woman in me just adores. Try the chicken (which literally takes 10 minutes or less of active time to produce true magnificence) and you’ll see why.
Orange-Coriander Roast Chicken with Red Onions
(I ended up having to make the onions in a different dish because I only had a baking pan for the chicken, but I think the Real Simple version of cooking it altogether is preferable — the onions will soak up the delicious orangey chicken juice — so that is the recipe I’m going to give.)
Ingredients:
2 3 1/2 lb. chickens
3/4 c. orange marmalade (be sure to look at the ingredients list when buying your marmalade — you want a marmalade that lists oranges first, rather than sugar)
1/4 c. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
4 small red onions, sliced into 1/2 inch rings
Kosher salt, pepper
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a roasting pan with foil.
2. Arrange the onions on the bottom of the pan, placing chickens on top.
3. Mix marmalade, oil, coriander, 2 tsp. salt, and 3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper. Spread the mixture over the chickens — it won’t stick perfectly, but if you just glop a bunch on top it will melt in the oven and cover the chickens just fine.
4. Roast chickens until they’re cooked through, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes after taking out of the oven.
(Real Simple says to strain the pan drippings — which are abundant — let the strained drippings stand for 5 minutes, skim the fat from the surface, and then serve the remaining jucies. I say that isn’t real simple, and we just spooned them straight from the pan.)
