Bobby Flay's Citrus and Cumin Roasted Chicken

"How come my chicken never comes out looking like this?" was Ben's cry as he spotted this burnished bird resting on the windowsill last night before dinner. For a moment, I considered smiling pompously beatifically and telling him to just leave the cooking to me, but then I relented and explained: rubbing a raw chicken (or human flesh, for that matter, but it's too long of a story to explain how I know about this one) with citrus juices before roasting will render the appetizingly crackly skin a lustrous browned color. Ben asked for the recipe then, to make when I'm not around. If it's any indication of how much he liked our dinner, he's never done this before.

We awoke yesterday morning to find our city blanketed in so much snow that we couldn't even see one block south. We managed somehow to get ourselves to Tribeca for brunch with friends, but that excursion drained any energy we might have still had for the rest of the day (I know, we are so youthful and athletic). We circled around Ben's fridge when our dinner plans were cancelled, eyeing the raw chicken that lay there, wondering how we'd infuse a little spark into a Sunday meal that's become, for lack of a better term, a bit rote.

So it felt like divine intervention when my book of clippings opened to a page that had a recipe for a roast chicken stuffed and rubbed with citrus fruits, ground cumin, herbs and garlic glued into it. We had to amend some of the instructions by necessity (no roasting pan, at least not at Ben's place, so no searing of the breast before slipping the chicken into the oven, and not half as much cumin as required because of the aforementioned slight aversion to the associations it pulls up in my tastebud-to-brain neuron highway), but this didn't end up making a whit of difference in the end.

The recipe comes from Bobby Flay, when he was being written about in the New York Times by the Lee Bros, and living alone in Chelsea (he's married now). You take a chicken, rub it with a few segmented oranges and limes, stuff the cavity with more citrus wedges, peeled garlic cloves, oregano, salt and pepper. You cover the chicken with ground cumin and more salt and pepper and balance the bird (I'm a veritable Macgyver - that's a baking rack you see there) on a rack over a baking pan that has chicken stock, juice, citrus wedges, and more garlic cloves floating about in it. The chicken both roasts and steams in the oven, and becomes infused with a whole spectrum of flavors: sour citrus, bitter peel, aromatic garlic, pungent cumin and herbal oregano. It's a veritably symphony of flavors.

Plus, there's a gravy. What's better than a gravy? There's something totally satisfying about pouring the pan juices into a pot, squeezing in a little extra juice, sprinkling in a bit more salt to taste, and reducing the shiny brown liquid to a drippy glaze to pour over the carved chicken. I don't know why, it just makes me feel like one accomplished lady. And on a Sunday night, no less.

Comments

[debbie]

Wow. That is one beautiful chicken! It's enough to make me wish that either my husband or I liked dark meat--I never get to roast a whole bird...

[Alizah]

My Monday morning, previously hopeless and desperately fatigued, sparkles now a little more.

[gemma]

You know I liked the reference to the human flesh here!! This chicken looks amazing and I agree with Ben. Why doesn't my chicken ever look like that?
xx

[Kristin]

That's so funny that you posted this because just last night I wanted to roast a chicken but couldn't find any recipes that appealed to me. This looks great though, and I will definitely try it out! And what is this reference to human flesh....?

[Molly]

Luisa, that is one astoundingly beautiful chicken. I thought my usual Zuni Cafe recipe made for a pretty bird, but damn! Wow.

And thanks for that Bobby Flay wedding link...too funny.

[Luisa]

Debbie - thank you! How about shredding the dark meat and stirring into soups or rice pilaf or something?

Alizah - oh, I'm so glad!

Gemma - thought you might like that... ;)

Kristin - Internet serendipity or something!

Molly - thank you, sweetheart! But I have to say, the Zuni bird is gorgeous in its own right (and I actually think the whole Zuni-chicken-bread-salad-thing is probably the best thing I've ever put in my mouth).

[Maya]

Oh, I wish my husband would eat chicken. That bird is spectacular... and I can just taste the spices and citrus! I am so jealous... We joked that if we still lived in NYC we'd have called in "blizzard" today... and I would have had a toasty day at home with food, husband and TV... ahh.

[Fran]

Who needs snowmen when you can play inside like that??
Fran

[Julie]

I love the view of the snow from your window -- wow! it really was a blizzard.

Chicken looks delicious too.

[Luisa]

Maya - thanks! That's too bad that your husband doesn't eat chicken. I can't really eat all that much of it, but I've got Ben to finish off most of it, at least.

Fran - I agree!

Julie - crazy, right? It was lovely.

[MM]

I adore roast chicken. However, cooking for one means I have chicken leftovers for weeks! I need to psyche myself up for that ...

[inciquay]

I feel dumb for not knowing that trick about the lemon but everyday I'm more and more glad I stumbled on your blog!