Sticky, Fruity Roast Chicken

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Sticky, deeply browned savoury sweetness almost to excess. Soul satisfying fast food for the seriously hungry... Mix, baste, impatiently oven roast and attack while still hot, juicy, glistening and sticky. Finish en klaar! Serve with oven roasted potato and butternut wedges.

Why do we have such a fascination – and enduring love affair – with roasted, grilled or barbequed sticky chicken pieces? I suspect there are many elemnts to the answer. Mass produced chicken is a good ‘canvass’ for painting on with a wide variety of tastes and flavours (see Oven Roasted Chicken Mayonnaise & Crispy Sweet Chilli Chicken Wings). Our brains are probably hard wired to by default associate that glistening, deeply browned glaze with transcendental goodness. Quite possibly the same “fault in our genes” holds true for the sublime smell of roasting or grilling animal protein. The body KNOWS on a cellular level imminent satisfaction is in the air, never mind the brain’s aloof opinions on nutrition, balanced diets, cholesterol and all that hoopla!

Then there’s the opportunity to dig in by hand – all digits to action stations! – into that sticky, caramelised unctuousness of a well marinated and liberally glazed cutlet, drumstick or juicy thigh cooked to perfection under the attention of an attentive, knowledgeable grill man or cook. Screw table manners, it’s time to turn Flintstone on those lovely hunks of animal protein!

A friend claims finger handled food tastes distinctly better than regular knife and fork engaged portions. She learned this morsel of wisdom from a gentleman of Mediterranean extraction. The suspicion that the gentleman may have had romantic designs on her in no way detracts from the validity of his argument however. Apparently the phenomenon has to do with the enhancing presence of trace quantities of sweat, natural oils and moisturisers in the skin of our finger tips (now we know the true physiological function of finger print skin structures).

I heartily concur: sometimes you have to break with social norms and good graces for the benefit of your soul and being. To hell with the arched eyebrows – manhandle your food often and thoroughly I say!

STICKY, FRUITY ROAST CHICKEN

– PRINT RECIPE –

Recipe yields: 4 Portions

Preparation time: ± 75 minutes

Roasting time: 40 min

Difficulty level: Easy peasy!

Ingredients:

Chicken leg quarters or thigh pieces	4 / 8
For the marinade:
Lemon juice	100ml
Medium lemon, quartered & thinly sliced	1
Chopped garlic	10ml
Fresh ginger, peeled & sliced into thin rounds	2.5cm section
For the sticky glaze:
Lemon juice	60ml
Apricot jam, preferably home made	60ml
Tangy fruit chutney	30ml
Ground ginger	2.5ml
Fine black pepper	2.5ml
Ground cloves	0.5ml

Method:

1.      Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a suitably sized Ziploc bag. Cut 2 – 3 deep slits in the fleshy parts of the chicken pieces. Add the chicken to the marinade, seal and shake well to fully cover with marinade. Marinate one hour at room temperature or – preferably – overnight in the refrigerator.

2.      Combine all the glaze ingredients in a microwave proof bowl. Mix thoroughly. Warm briefly in a microwave if the apricot jam resists fully mixing into the glaze.

3.      Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade (discard the marinade). Shake to drain, remove any attached ginger or lemon pieces and transfer to a suitably sized mixing bowl. Add the sticky glaze and coat thoroughly by tossing everything with two mixing spoons.

4.      Transfer the coated chicken pieces – skin side up – to a wire rack placed in a shallow roasting tray, sheet pan or large Swiss roll pan. Do not allow the pieces to touch or overlap. Use a basting brush to transfer any leftover glaze to the chicken pieces. Salt to taste.

5.      Roast 40 minutes at 165°C (330 deg. Fahrenheit) in a preheated convection oven, or until the juices run clear when pierced with a metal skewer. Roast 45 minutes at 180°C (355 deg. Fahrenheit) on the upper shelf of a preheated normal, static oven.

6.      Remove, allow cool to manageable temperature and serve with plenty of serviettes and bowls of warm water containing half a lemon slice. Steel yourself for pitiful pleas along the line of “Please Sir, can I have some more?”

Comments:

·     The glaze will be sufficient for 12 intact chicken wings.

·     Finish en klaar! (meaning “over & done with”) was a favorite riposte of disgraced, South African, former National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi when questioned on, or criticized for, some of his more authoritarian or controversial opinions and ideas. He was caught with his fingers in the cookie jar and eventually jailed. Finish en klaar!

·     It is important to raise the glazed chicken pieces off the baking tray or pan’s surface to ensure free hot air circulation around the individual pieces for full, all over roasting. Use a suitably sized tray or pan and wire rack to prevent any glazed pieces from touching or overlapping.

·     Lightly oil the wire rack with sunflower oil to prevent the roasting chicken pieces from sticking to it. The glaze contains a hefty quantity of sugar that will easily char on the wire surfaces making it difficult to remove the roasted chicken pieces afterward without surface damage.

© RS Young, 2017

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Note:

Post updated on 2024.03.18 to include:

1. The updated Recipe for downloading as a PDF file, and

2. Recipe Title and Print Recipe, Recipe Index and Facebook & Pinterest follow links.