Roasted Chicken with Honey, Orange, and Cumin

 

There are these ridiculous commercials on TV about a housewife who is "roaster-phobic" being confronted in an intervention by her entire family - I forget exactly what the product being advertised is - and however ridiculous, I've always felt a little roaster-phobic myself.  This roasted chicken was my first.

Despite hesitation, and Bittman's statement that making this chicken takes a certain "boldness of spirit," everything went just fine.  The chicken appears as if it's going to burn in spots, but you can leave it be (because the burny spots are crispy and delicious), or if you're really concerned, you can always lower the heat in the oven.

This is definitely a different tasting roasted chicken - it is on the sweet side, and despite the high oven temperature, it was nice and moist. I hate that word, but it had to be said.


Roasted Chicken with Cumin, Honey, and Orange
From: Mark Bittman

Ingredients

1 3-pound whole chicken (mine was closer to 4 pounds)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place chicken in a non-stick roasting pan, or line a roasting pan with 2 layers of aluminum foil (I used a 13x9 glass dish lined with foil).

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, honey, cumin, salt, and pepper.  Cover chicken as evenly as possible with all but 1/4 cup of reserved juice mixture.

4. Place the chicken in the oven, legs first, and roast for 10 minutes. Baste the chicken with the juices and reverse the pan back to front; return the chicken to the oven and repeat 4 times, basting the chicken every 10 minutes and reversing the position of the pan.  If the chicken really looks like it might be getting scorched, lower the oven heat a little bit.  Use reserved liquid if the liquid in the pan dries up.  After 50 minutes of roasting, insert an instant-read meat thermometer into the chicken thigh; when it reads between 155-165 degrees, remove the chicken from the oven and baste one more time.  Let sit for 5 minutes before carving. 



This delicious chicken came from The Meat Hook in Williamsburg:

I finally bought a baster and a meat thermometer: 

Sliced:

I think my favorite part of this whole process was the resulting chicken salad:
 

Chickpea Burgers

My friend Lauren made these chickpea burgers recently and they were so good that I wanted to make them myself. They're good to have on hand for lunch or dinner.

These have spices in them that give them an Indian style kick. They taste great with some toppings: tomatoes, feta, tzatziki and cucumbers - and are good in pitas.

Chickpea Burgers

Ingredients

2 15oz cans chickpeas
4 eggs
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil (for onions, plus more to fry burgers)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/4 cup rolled outs
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or 1 teaspoon for an extra kick)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1. Drain chickpeas and add them to a food processor with the eggs. Pulse to combine, but don't puree - let the mixture remain a little chunky.

2.  Sauté the chopped onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and mix together well, cooking for about another minute.

3. Let the spice mixture cool briefly, then add to the chickpea/egg mixture. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, oats, bread crumbs and parsley. Let the mixture stand for about 10-15 minutes.

4. Form the mix into 10-12 "burger" patties.  Cook in olive oil over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through.

Patties: 

I love those sandwich thins:

Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli

This is a great, quick week night dinner that is perfect over some rice, quinoa, or grain. Top with plenty of fresh lemon juice.

Ingredients
From: The Wednesday Chef

2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot chili powder
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 1/4 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
Fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and chili powder. In a separate bowl, combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.


2. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10 minutes more. Serve with lemon wedges and top with fresh lemon juice.