Orange roast chicken

I found this recipe for a yummy roast chicken years ago.

I can't remember where it came from, or the exact ingredients but it goes something like this...

Juice two oranges and put the juice into a small saucepan with a heaped teaspoon of seeded mustard and a big heaped teaspoon of marmalade.

Stir over a low heat until the marmalade has melted.

It smells lovely!

And don't forget to add your orange peels to your citrus cleaner brew.

Cut up two more oranges into quarters.

Actually, if you are using a big orange you'll probably only need one, otherwise cut up both and eat whatever you don't use.

Rinse out the cavity and outside of the chicken  with running water and pat dry with a paper or cloth towel.

Put the chicken into your lightly oiled baking dish.

Sometimes I use disposable aluminium trays sitting on another sturdier tray if I don't want to spend ages scouring off the remnants of the roast off my cast iron baking dish.

Put two cinnamon sticks plus whatever quartered orange pieces you can manage to fit into the cavity of the chicken.  

Tie its legs together to hold it all in if you like.

I don't, I find it too fiddly and I don't mind if the quarters fall out during cooking.

Baste the chicken with orange/mustard/marmalade mix using about 1/2 of what you've made up.

Dampen some paper towel or baking paper and cover the chicken with it.  Make sure you wring out any excess water, but you don't want it too dry either.

Cover securely with about two layers of tin foil, carefully tucking in the foil around the sides.

You basically want to steam the chicken at this time.

If you like, you can also cook your vegetables in the dish at the same time.

Cook for about 45 minutes or so, depending on the size of your chicken.  

You will need to follow the cooking guide for your chicken's size and cook it for about 3/4 of the recommended cooking time.

Remove the foil and paper in the last 15 minutes or so and baste the chicken with the remaining juices in the saucepan.

Actually, I pour the whole lot over it.

The chicken will look a sickly pale color when you remove the foil and paper but that's okay, it will smell divine though!

Return the chicken to the oven and cook until the chicken is cooked through.

Baste again with the pan juices and making sure to get into the sticky spots that have formed in the dish - they're the best tasting part of all.

Let it rest for a couple of minutes before carving and serving with the pan juices drizzled over it.

You can eat it as a roast meal or with salad.

We love it cold the next day on sandwiches or with salad.

A word of caution - when the children were younger they found the mustard a bit too hot for them, so adjust the mustard accordingly if you wish.