Roasted Chicken with Apricot Butter–Maple Syrup Glaze

Amarante

Tue, Sep 05 2023, 2:11 pm

This was delicious and not harder than any roast chicken. Nothing like a whole roast chicken to elevate a table and give choice to those who like either dark or white meat - and then you have the carcass for the basis of a really delicious soup.

I have "stuffed" chicken with cut up lemons but the onions stuffed into the chicken really permeated it with a delicious flavor.

I got this cookbook recently and it is interesting both as a book to read and a source of recipes. Book has suggested recipes for Jewish holidays and this is one of the recipes suggested for RH

Roasted Chicken with Apricot Butter–Maple Syrup Glaze

Excerpt From: Susan Simon. “The Cook and the Rabbi

Here’s a Hudson Valley twist on a favorite food often served on Jewish tables: roast chicken. The perfect recipe for Apricot Butter (page 198) lends its smooth texture and slightly tart flavor to local maple syrup to make just the right glaze for a roast chicken. And, of course, a bit of rose harissa takes away any possibility of the bird’s being too cloyingly sweet. I like to roast chicken in a cast-iron skillet. It stays cozy with all the other ingredients, leading to optimal flavor.

SERVES 3 TO 4

2 medium yellow onions, sliced thinly (2 heaping cups)
Heaping ½ cup thinly sliced shallots
6 to 8 fresh sage leaves
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
One 3½-pound chicken
⅓ cup pure maple syrup
½ cup Apricot Butter - see below)
1 teaspoon rose harissa

1. Heat the oven to 400ºF.

2. Combine the onions, shallots, sage, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a bowl and toss together.

3. Truss the chicken by tying its thighs together at the bone joint, tucking the tip of each wing under the meaty part, and securing both wings to the body of the chicken. Stuff about one-third of the onion mixture into the cavity of the chicken. Put the remainder into a large cast-iron skillet. Use your hands to rub some of the onion oil over the chicken.

4. Roast the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the maple syrup, apricot butter, rose harissa, and remaining teaspoon of salt in a small bowl and mix together.

5. Lower the oven temperature to 325ºF and roast the chicken for an additional 15 minutes.

6. Spoon the glaze all over the surface of the chicken. Roast for 45 minutes more, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken (the breast) registers 165ºF.

7. Remove from the oven. Let rest for 10 minutes. Serve.

Apricot Butter

I love the orchard fruits that grow in my area of the Hudson Valley. Apricots may be my favorite harvest. However, their season is fleeting. What I don’t eat right away, I make into apricot butter to freeze and pull out for special occasions. The most special occasion of all is to fill Hamantaschen (page 150).

MAKES 2 CUPS

3¼ pounds apricots, halved and pitted
1¾ cups freshly squeezed orange juice
½ cup sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Combine the apricots, orange juice, sugar, and lemon juice in a large, nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil. Simmer over high heat, stirring so the fruit doesn’t stick to the bottom, until the apricots are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Lower the heat to low and simmer, stirring, until thick, about an hour.

2. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the apricot butter from the pan into a food processor. Let cool. Then, puree until smooth.

3. Transfer the apricot butter to jars and refrigerate for up to a week. Or transfer to lidded plastic containers and freeze for up to a year. Or a combination: eat some now on buttered biscuits, and save some for hamantaschen.”