Recipe of the Month - September
This is a clever little recipe and a tasty little bird. Here's how it works: Make a spicy paste and rub half into the chicken; use the rest in the sauce. the grapes follow the same pattern: stuff the chicken with grapes, simmer grapes into the sauce, add a handful at the end. In other words, the same ingredients reappear and make different contributions to the finished dish.
Use as many different types of seedless grapes as you can find; and if you only have one type — say, green seedless — use them. Tiny champagne grapes with their tart flavor? Add a big handful at the end. This is a great dish to celebrate the vendage (grape harvest) with, or to make for Rosh Hashanah when sweet dishes are traditionally eaten.
Sephardic Roasted Chicken With Two Kinds Of Ginger And As Many Kinds Of Grapes As You Can Find
Serves about 4(Adapted from a recipe in The Jewish Heritage Cookbook)
- 1 3lb. (1.5kg) chicken, whole
- About 4oz. (110g.) fresh ginger, grated
- 6–8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 3 large pinches cinnamon (very large pinches)
- Salt and black pepper
- 3/4 lb. (350g.) green seedless grapes
- 3/4 lb. red seedless grapes
- 3/4 lb. any other grape you like (if its seeded, cut in half and remove seeds — italia or muscat grapes are delicious, as are champagne grapes or flame grapes, purple grapes...)
- 5–7 shallots, chopped
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 to 2 cups orange juice
- Small amount of sugar, to taste
- Squeeze of lemon juice if needed
Mix the ginger, garlic, 1/4 cup of the wine, the olive oil, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Rub half of this into the chicken. Leave to marinate as long as you can: 30 minutes is okay, so is overnight. Both will be good, but the longer you leave it, the more the flesh of the chicken will be perfumed.
When ready to cook, stuff as much of the grapes as can fit into the cavity of the bird, along with some of the shallots and place in a roasting pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), put the chicken in the oven, and leave it to roast for about an hour. A meat thermometer will help you gauge the temp (it's really the best way to go about it). On the other hand, I never use one. Just don't overcook the chicken to the point that the breast is dry. I prick the fleshy thick part of the thigh with a skewer to see what color the juices are. Pink juices mean not quite cooked; as soon as they are clearish, remove from oven.
Place the chicken on a plate and tent it with a piece of foil to keep warm.
Pour off any fat from the pan (reserving juices and sediment) and add the shallots. Cook over medium low heat about five minutes, or until softened, then pour in the remaining wine and cook over high heat until reduced to a few tablespoons, then add the chicken broth and do the same. When the chicken stock is simmering, add the remaining ginger garlic spicy paste, then the orange juice, and cook over a high heat until it all reduces to a strongly flavored sauce. Add about half of the remaining grapes, simmer together ten minutes or so, until it all forms a thick and juicy sauce, then add the rest of the grapes, warm through and remove from stove. Taste for seasoning, sugar and lemon to taste.
Carve the chicken, pouring the juices from the platter into the grape and sauce pan, then serve the chicken with the grape sauce.
© Marlena Spieler 2003