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:
 

Potato Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette and Bacon

I'm a sucker for recipes that claim to be the best, and this is Bittman's "best (and simplest)" potato salad.  I'm also a sucker for mayo-less potato salads, and this one is pretty good.  I added some crunchy bacon pieces to it because no recipe should be called the best without bacon in it.

Another note: I made a fish recipe to go along with this, which I'm going to post next, and the honey mustard vinaigrette tasted really good with the fish. I imagine it would be a good salad dressing as well.


Potato Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Adapted with bacon from: Mark Bittman


Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup (or more) mustard vinaigrette (see below)
3-4 slices bacon, cooked until crispy

1. In a medium sized pot, cover potatoes with water, add a little salt, and bring water to a boil. When water starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and cook the potatoes for about 12 minutes, or until tender but not mushy. Drain.

2. In a skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Cut (or rip) into small pieces.

3. Toss the potatoes with the parsley, onion, and bacon and add as much honey mustard vinaigrette as you'd like (I used the whole mixture, which was just a little too much). Add salt and pepper to taste.
  
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons wine vinegar (I used red)
1 heaping teaspoon of Dijon mustard or other good mustard
1-2 tablespoons honey

1. In a blender, mix together all ingredients until creamy (takes 2 seconds).