We love a roast chicken for Sunday lunch. This slow-roasted chicken with orzo roast is the best way to spice up your next roast. So try it out!
Note: Low-and-slow cooking guarantees succulent meat and intensifies the flavours in this almost effortless one-pan roast.
Ingredients
- Medium free-range chicken (weighing about 1.8 kg)
- 100 g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tsp ground sumac
- 1 tsp each of ground cinnamon, cumin, coriander and turmeric
- 1 lemon, zested then halved
- 2 large red onions, sliced
- 1 large garlic bulb, papery skin removed
- 230 g orzo
- 500 ml hot chicken stock
- Small bunch each of mint, coriander and parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 medium cucumber, finely diced
- 50 g pomegranate seeds
- For the tahini yoghurt:
- 300 g Greek-style yoghurt
- 2 tbsp tahini
- Juice 1 lemon, plus zest ½, to serve (optional)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 min before cooking. Heat the oven to 120°C. Mix the butter, spices and lemon zest in a small bowl with a big pinch of salt. Spread the butter all over the chicken, including under the skin. Sprinkle with more salt.
- Put the onions in a shallow casserole and place the chicken on top. Add the lemon halves and the garlic bulb. Roast for 3 hrs, basting several times with the pan juices, until the chicken is cooked though.
- Increase the oven to 220°C and cook for a further 10 min, to crisp up the chicken skin.
- Remove the chicken from the tin and set aside, loosely covered with foil, to rest. Squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins. Add half the garlic to the tin with the onions, then stir in the orzo and hot stock. Return to the oven for 25 min until the stock is absorbed and the orzo is tender.
- Meanwhile, mix the tahini yoghurt ingredients together in a bowl with the remaining roasted garlic, and set aside. When the orzo is ready, stir in half the herbs and top with the cucumber, pomegranate seeds and more lemon zest, if you’d like. Sprinkle with the remaining herbs. Carve the chicken and serve with the orzo and a dollop of the yoghurt.
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Featured Image: Woman&Home April 2024 Issue
