This is my version of a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for marinated roast chicken with clementines. Until she became a vegetarian, it was one of my daughter Molly’s favourite meals, with the sweet, yet sharp flavour of citrus, along with fennel and celery. It’s all the better with blood oranges. You need to start the marinating the night before.
For 4:
- Grated zest and juice of 2 blood oranges
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp dark soft brown sugar
- 4 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- 150ml fino sherry (or dry white wine)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- Good pinch of flaky sea salt
- 1.3kg free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or equal weight in chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
- 1 celery head, sliced into 3cm wide diagonal slices
- 2 fennel bulbs, sliced
- 2 blood oranges, cut into thin slices
- 2 tbsp thyme leaves
In a bowl, mix together the orange zest and juice, the lemon juice, sugar, oil, sherry, mustard and sea salt. Put the chicken pieces, celery, fennel, orange slices and thyme into a roasting tray. Pour over the marinade. Mix, then leave overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
Put the chicken in the oven and cook for 1 hour, basting a few times until the juices run clear and the skin is brown and crisp. Drain off the fat from the tray and pour the cooking liquid into a small pan. Reduce a little if too runny.
Serve the chicken with its gravy, with black or red rice and a green salad.
» 674 calories per serving
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