Harissa is a Tunisian pepper paste that marries well with the sweetness of Honey. We added in our Rosemary Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a nice herbal note to this chicken dish. If you're a fan of roast chicken, give this recipe a try for a spicy twist on an old favorite!
Ingredients:
Whole Chicken
3 Tbl Harissa Paste
3 Tbl Honey
2 Tbl Rosemary Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 small onion, grated
4 tsp Sea Salt
Directions:
When we tested this recipe with our typical "high-heat to start, low heat to finish" chicken roasting method where we cook uncovered then tent with foil at the end, the honey and Harissa began to burn quickly. We rethought our method and decided to reverse our process: cover the chicken and cook on lower heat for the majority of the cooking process and then use high heat to finish things off and crisp up the skin. It worked well with no burn!
Preheat oven to 350°F. We recommend that you spatchcock the chicken. This simply means cutting out the backbone of the bird so that you can flatten out the chicken and expose all the skin.
Season the chicken on all sides with 2 tsp salt. Use a handheld grater (microplane) or smallest holes on a box grater to grate onion. Be sure to catch juices.
In a bowl, combine Harissa Paste, honey, Rosemary Extra Virgin Olive Oil, onion with juices and remaining 2 tsp salt. Rub this combination over the chicken. Gently lift the skin of the breast and rub some of the mixture under the skin.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan. If leaving the chicken whole, place it breast side up. If spatchcocked, place bird, flattened out, skin side up. Tent pan with foil.
Roast for 50-60 mins or until a meat thermometer insterted into meatiest section registers 165°F. Remove foil, drizzle with more Rosemary Extra Virgin Olive OIl. Increase heat to 400°F. Roast for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Keep a close watch, as the sugars can tend to burn. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
