If you’re reading this, you already know the benefits of organic food. But what about the flavour? When it comes to chicken, there is simply no comparison. A roast organic whole chicken is succulent and delicious and keeps on giving for the work week: in sandwiches, salads, curries, wraps, and eventually stock for soup.

I usually squeeze the juice of a whole lemon or orange over the chicken before putting it in the oven, but none were to be found in my fruit bowl. Instead, I basted the chicken with orange juice concentrate before roasting which resulted in a sweet, lacquered, crispy skin. Cut up potatoes or root vegetables, onions, and peppers and douse them with olive oil so that they cook alongside the chicken and soak up delicious flavours.

Ingredients:

Roast veg at the same time

  • Whole organic chicken
  • Orange juice concentrate
  • Garlic
  • Fresh parsley
  • Any of the following seasoning: smoked paprika, Montreal chicken spice, salt and pepper, herbes de provence
  • Root vegetables, onions, and peppers

Guidelines:

  • Preheat the oven to 425.
  • Rinse the defrosted chicken and dry it inside and out
  • Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken and in the cavity
  • Put several unpeeled garlic cloves in the cavity
  • Put fresh parsley in the cavity
  • Baste the chicken with the orange juice concentrate
  • Sprinkle seasoning over the chicken
  • Put the chicken in the oven and turn the temperature down to 400. Bake for 20 minutes, baste, and reduce the temperature to 375. Bake for another 20 minutes, baste, reduce the temperature to 350. Baste again after 20 minutes.
  • Roast for a total of 60 minutes. The drumbstick is wiggly when it’s done.
  • Remove from the oven and tent with foil. Let the chicken rest before carving.