Unusual Roast Chicken
I developed this recipe in a quest to use spices I don’t use often enough asafoetida (also called hing) and work with a new spice I was given by a friend returning from Cyprus, lemon salt.
The paprika in the recipe adds a slight kick to the chicken and my family really enjoyed this twist on a roast chicken.
The flavour is subtle you could always add lemon juice if you like a little more zing, before or after cooking.
I usually roast my chicken on a low temperature 140-150 degrees Celsius breast side down on a rack. The juices from the backbone trickle down and keep the breast meat moist.
This time I was in a hurry and I roasted the chicken on its backbone, in a 230 degree Celsius oven for 2/3 of the time for the weight of the chicken.
The chicken was moist and my family were very happy with the new chicken spice recipe.
- 1 whole chicken or 6 pieces of chicken
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 1 teaspoon lemon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon asafoetida (sometimes called hing)
- +-5 tablespoons olive oil (enough to coat your chicken)
- 3 bay leaves
- If you are cooking the chicken without marinating turn your oven onto 230 degrees Celsius.
- Mix all the ingredients together except the bay leaves.
- If you are making a whole chicken:
- Spread the spices under and on top of the skin of the chicken and pop the bay leaves into the chicken's cavity.
- For the chicken pieces:
- Rub the spice mix onto each chicken piece and place the pieces into a roasting tray and on top of the bay leaves.
- Allow the chicken or chicken pieces to marinade for as long as you have, ideally overnight.
- Roast the chicken for ⅔ of the cooking time stated on the packet as you are cooking the chicken at a very high temperature.
- Enjoy with a delicious salad.
If you don't have asafoetida use onion powder.
If you don't have lemon salt you the zest of one lemon and a teaspoon of salt.
Marinating:
This recipe will still taste delicious if you don't have a chance to marinade and have to place the chicken straight into the oven.
