Recipe: Preserved Lemon Roasted Chicken.

A simple and delicious roasted chicken recipe using preserved lemons from your garden.

I love roasted chicken.  It's one of the few dishes that scores rave reviews from both parents and kids.  So variations on the basic recipe are always welcome in our house.

We normally roast a chicken and season it with nothing more than olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder.   We then use the rotisserie in our oven to cook the chicken.  The rotisserie makes a world of difference in the cooking process; it keeps the chicken juicy while creating a very crispy skin.  (Regardless of the seasoning, use the rotisserie feature of your oven if you have one.)

Readers of this blog will recall that in a prior posting, I explained how to make preserved lemons using fruit grown in your garden or purchased from your local store.  I also mentioned that preserved lemons were a natural compliment to chicken.  So here's a simple recipe for Preserved Lemon Roasted Chicken that I know you will love.

Ingredients:

• 1 roasting chicken (generally about 4 pounds) Get the best organic chicken you can find.
• Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Hot paprika
• 1 preserved lemon
• Olive oil

Recipe:

1. Wash and dry the chicken.
2. Remove the peel from the preserved lemon and place the fruit portion of the lemon in a bowl.
3. Slice the peel into about long thin strips.
4. Place the lemon peel strips under the skin of the chicken by lifting up the skin and pushing the lemon peel under the skin covering the chicken breast.  You will also be able to place lemon peel under the skin of the drum stick and thighs by lifting up the skin at the back of the chicken.
5. Then coat the skin of the chicken with olive oil
6. Season the skin with salt, pepper and paprika to taste
7. Stuff the fruit of the lemon into the cavity of the chicken (It is just a flavoring agent.  You will discard this after cooking)
8. Put the chicken onto the rotisserie spit and place into your oven.
9. Roast at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cook for 15 minutes for every pound of chicken.
10. After the chicken has roasted, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees and cook for an additional 10 minutes to crisp the skin.  Watch the oven to make sure the chicken does not burn.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes.  This prevents the juices from escaping when you carve the bird.
12. Carve and serve.  If you want you chicken hot, microwave briefly to bring up the temperature.  You'll find that the chicken has a wonderful lemon flavor imparted by the preserved lemons.  (By the way, I recommend that you eat the lemon peel.  It's really delicious.)
    
13. We like to serve the chicken with potatoes as our starch and either peas or carrots as a vegetable, but serve whatever your family likes as side dishes. 
    
14. Finally, reward yourself with a nice glass of white wine.

Bon Appetit.

If you want the recipe for preserved lemons, check out the original posting which describes how to preserve lemons