FESTIVE ROAST CHICKEN IN THREE FLAVOURS
Instead of buying a large cut of expensive meat for Christmas, roast a few juicy chickens with one or all of our flavour- packed rubs. Add festive flair by tying bows around the drumsticks of the cooked chickens. SERVES 10-12 PREPARATION: 20 MIN RESTING: 15 MIN COOKING: 1½ HOURS 3 plump chickens, cleaned and patted dry salt and freshly ground pepper 2 lemons, quartered 2 onions, peeled and quartered
CITRUS AND MINT RUB 5ml (1t) cumin seeds juice and grated zest of 1 lemon juice and grated zest of 1 orange handful of fresh mint, chopped 15ml (1T) olive oil HONEY AND MUSTARD RUB 30ml (2T) honey 15ml (1T) Dijon mustard 15ml (1T) olive oil 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stems and stems discarded 4 garlic cloves, chopped SPICY RUB 10ml (2t) crushed dried chillies 10ml (2t) smoked or sweet paprika 5ml (1t) each ground cumin and coriander 15ml (1T) mixed dried herbs 30ml (2T) olive oil Preheat the oven to 160°C. 1 Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Tightly stuff the cavities of each chicken with the lemon and onion quarters. Truss the drumsticks together with butcher’s string. 2 Rubs Mix the ingredients for each rub in a separate bowl. Rub each chicken all over with one of the rubs, put the chickens in a roasting pan or pans and cover with foil. 3 Roast the chickens for 1 hour 10 minutes then increase the temperature to 230°C and remove the foil. Roast the chicken for another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, set aside to rest for 15 minutes then carve.