Honeymoon chicken
This is the easiest roast chicken recipe, cutting down on the cooking time by jointing the chicken so it cooks more quickly. You could easily substitute chicken pieces or fillets with skin on. If you have time, marinate the chicken for a few hours or overnight for maximum flavour. The honey makes the skin crispy and the chicken stays moist in the cooking juices.
Ingredients
1 free-range organic chicken, jointed into 4-6 pieces (ask the poultry shop to do this for you)
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp honey
½ cup rosé (or white wine)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and bruised
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Method
Put the chicken in a large roasting pan with lemon, oil, honey, wine, garlic and thyme. Toss well to coat all the pieces. Marinate for 30 minutes, skin-side down, or up to 24 hours if you have time.
Preheat oven to 200C. Turn chicken skin-side up in the roasting pan and cook for about 50 minutes, or until skin is well browned and chicken is cooked through at its thickest point.
Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Note: The recipe title refers to the origins of the word "honeymoon". According to old European custom, mead (containing honey) was served at wedding feasts. You'll surely win a heart cooking this at any time of the year. Buy a bottle of really good quality rosé and you can enjoy a glass with the meal (as well as the half a cup required in the recipe).
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