Roasted Chicken With Preserved Lemons Recipes

ROASTED CHICKEN WITH PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut the preserved lemons into quarters and remove the rinds from the flesh, reserving both. Create a pocket between the skin and meat of each chicken breast. Slide pieces of the lemon rind, pith side down, into each pocket, two pieces per breast. Then rub the chickens with the remaining lemon flesh. Sprinkle the ground cumin over the birds and season with the salt and pepper.
• Set chickens on a roasting rack in a large roasting pan and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the chickens and spread butter over the breasts, then drizzle with the honey. Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees. Roast for 30 to 50 minutes, or until the skin is a burnished brown.
• Remove from oven, and allow to rest for 15 or 20 minutes.
• Reduce juice from pan over medium heat. Pour over carved chicken.

MOROCCAN ROASTED CHICKEN WITH PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Make a spice rub for the chicken from the ginger, turmeric, garlic, cilantro, olive oil, and lemon juice.
• Gently lift and loosen the skin of the chicken from the breast and leg meat, leaving the skin intact. Spoon most of the spice mixture under the skin, and rub the spices over the meat, taking care to reach the leg.
• Turn the chicken over, and loosen the skin from the back of the chicken. Add the remaining spice rub to the back meat, reaching to the legs if possible.
• Salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken, truss the legs and rub a little olive oil on the outside of the chicken. Transfer the chicken to a glass or plastic bowl, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight.
• Set aside the saffron. Slice the onions as thinly as possible. Place the onions, garlic, remaining spices, cilantro, oil and smen in a heavy-bottomed shallow stock pot or Dutch oven . Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for an hour or until the onions are soft and can easily be mashed with a spoon or vegetable masher. Avoid burning the onions, and add a little oil or water if necessary to prevent the onions from sticking.
• Mash the onions and continue cooking, uncovered, until the onions are reduced to a thick blended mass sitting in the oil. How long this takes will depend on how moist the onions were, how thinly you sliced them, and how wide your pot is.
• When the onions are a unified mass, stir in the saffron and remove the onions from the heat. At this point, the sauce can be cooled and refrigerated overnight.
• Transfer the chicken to an oiled shallow roasting pan, allow the chicken to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven 325 F/160 C.
• Roast the chicken uncovered, basting occasionally and rotating the pan halfway through cooking, for 2 to 3 hours, or until the skin is golden brown and the leg can be moved easily in its joint.
• Transfer the cooked chicken to a serving plate, or hold warm in the turned off oven.
• Pour the juices from the roasting pan into the onion sauce mixture, stirring to blend. Add the preserved lemon and olives, 2 or 3 tablespoons of water as needed and simmer the sauce over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until well-blended and the sauce is thick.
• Pour the sauce onto the serving platter, spooning a little sauce and olives over the chicken. Garnish the chicken with some of the preserved lemons, and serve immediately with Moroccan bread ( khobz ) for scooping up the chicken and sauce.

ROASTED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH PRESERVED LEMON

Steps:

• Turn the oven to 450°F In a food processor, finely chop the lemon, olive oil, cilantro, garlic, and cumin.
• Cover a shallow roating pan with foil. Arrange the chicken breasts on the foil, skin side up, and spread the lemon mixture over them. Grind a generous amount of black pepper over the chicken and place in the oven. Reduce heat to 325°F.
• Roast chicken for 45 minutes, pasting it with its pan juices, until the chicken reaches 170F on an instant-read thermometer.
• Alternative roasting method: Roast 1 hour at 300°F.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH PRESERVED LEMONS AND ROOT VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Make the brine: Fill a large stockpot with 16 cups water; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add sugar, salt, lemons, olives and their brine, parsley, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaves; stir to dissolve sugar and salt. Remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes to infuse.
• Add ice to brine mixture to cool. If brine is not completely cold, transfer to refrigerator until cold. Add chickens to cold brine and weight down with a plate or small pot lid to keep submerged. Transfer to refrigerator and let brine 8 to 12 hours.
• Make the chicken: Cut preserved lemons into quarters. Cut flesh away from rinds, reserving both. Remove chicken from brine; discard brine. Rinse chickens and pat dry using paper towels. Place 1 chicken on work surface with legs facing you. Starting at the cavity, work the handle of a wooden spoon between skin and one breast to create a pocket, working slowly and gently to avoid tearing skin. Repeat process with other side.
• Holding chicken in place with one hand, slide index and middle fingers of your other hand into each pocket to enlarge it, then slide your fingers down to create a pocket over the thigh. Repeat entire process with second chicken.
• Insert pieces of preserved lemon rind, white pith-side down, and thyme sprigs into pockets over thighs and breasts. Sprinkle cavities with salt and rub chickens with reserved flesh from preserved lemons, scraping off any pieces of lemon flesh that stick to the chicken and discard.
• Position 1 chicken, breast side up, with legs facing you. Cut a vertical slit in one side, about 1 inch back from cavity, alongside thigh. Cross end of opposite drumstick over drumstick on this side and poke top end of drumstick through slit. Depending on condition of chicken's skin, it may rip as you try to poke the drumstick through it, so have some kitchen twine on hand just in case to tie legs together if necessary. Repeat process with other chicken. Season chickens with salt.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Make the vegetables: Place turnips, carrots, onions, parsnips, and rutabagas in a large bowl; add olive oil, thyme, garlic, and 3 pinches salt. Toss to combine. Transfer vegetables to a large roasting pan spreading in an even layer. Set a roasting rack over vegetables. Place chickens, breast-side up on roasting rack, leaving space between chickens. Chickens should not be touching vegetables, but set over them.
• Transfer roasting pan to oven; roast for 15 minutes. Spread room-temperature butter from remaining chicken ingredients over the breasts; continue roasting 30 minutes more. Roast until skin is deep golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reaches 160 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let stand 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, remove rack and set roasting pan on stove over two burners. Bring cooking liquid to a simmer. Whisk in preserved lemon liquid and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in butter, piece by piece, to emulsify sauce and glaze vegetables. Stir in parsley. Serve chickens whole or carved over vegetables.