Oven Roasted Lemon Chicken With Seasoned Sauce

"A juicy golden chicken with luscious sauce, requiring a minimum of effort. The lemon flavor is not overpowering, but definitely present. Pairs perfectly with mashed potatoes. This recipe comes from a Dutch language cookbook I recently purchased entitled "Mediterraans: Culinair genieten op z'n best" which translates to MEDITERRANEAN: CULINARY ENJOYMENT AT ITS BEST. All the recipes are anonymous so I can't give credit to it's author."
 
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photo by Rita1652 photo by Rita1652
photo by Rita1652
photo by Rita1652 photo by Rita1652
Ready In:
2hrs 15mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
  • Place one of the garlic head halves and half of the lemon slices in a large heat-proof baking dish.
  • Place the cardamom pods, cumin seeds, and cloves in a mortar and pestle and lightly crush (just enough that their aromas are released); scatter these in the baking dish.
  • Gently loosen the skin (from the bottom, not neck, end) of the chicken and place lemon slices over the breasts (you should be able to get 2-4 slices over each breast).
  • Put the remaining lemon slices and the other garlic half inside the chicken.
  • Place the chicken BREAST SIDE DOWN in the baking dish.
  • Rub or brush the olive oil over the chicken and salt and pepper as desired.
  • In a small saucepan on the stove top, heat the water to boiling and dissolve the bouillon cube in it.
  • Take 2 TBS of this broth and add to the baking dish.
  • Place the dish in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
  • Remove the dish from the oven, turn the chicken over, baste with pan juices, and return to oven, baking one hour more until the chicken is done (when the thickest part of the leg is pricked, the juices will run clear).
  • Remove the chicken to a cutting board, and pour any pan juices through a strainer into the saucepan with the remaining chicken bouillon.
  • Heat this mixture to boiling, and as it boils stir the flour briskly in; boil for 2 minutes or until thickened.
  • Pour the sauce into a serving bowl (if your flour clumped, just strain it as you pour into serving bowl).
  • Remove the lemon slices and garlic from the chicken; carve as usual.
  • Serve, passing sauce.

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Reviews

  1. This recipe is fantastic! This was probably the best roasted chicken I've ever baked. The lemon flavor was not too strong at all. The key may be to slice the lemons very thin, so they caramelize quickly and become tangy but sweet. Alo to remove all seeds since they become bitter. The lemony sauce was food for the Gods, with the cardamon, garlic & clove savory notes. A 10 star recipe!
     
  2. I found the lemon flavor very strong. I used 1 lemon, 8 cloves of garlic, 5 pods of cardamom, 3 legs with thighs. I did place a slice of lemon, clove of garlic under the skin of each leg. Laid the chicken on lemon slices. I baked for 45 minutes at 350 degrees then raised the heat to brown the skin for 10 minutes. The chicken was very tender. I used chicken broth in place of the bouillon cube and water.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I found the lemon flavor very strong. I used 1 lemon, 8 cloves of garlic, 5 pods of cardamom, 3 legs with thighs. I did place a slice of lemon, clove of garlic under the skin of each leg. Laid the chicken on lemon slices. I baked for 45 minutes at 350 degrees then raised the heat to brown the skin for 10 minutes. The chicken was very tender. I used chicken broth in place of the bouillon cube and water.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I am an American married to a Belgian, and have lived in Belgium since December 1999. Cooking is my major hobby. I'm also an avid reader, but I have difficulty finding the time. I love to travel. Since moving to Europe I've been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to go a couple of times per year to Paris, as well as having visited London, Rome, Florence, Naples, Amsterdam, and of course Brussels and Antwerp. I've seen at least parts of most regions of France, as well as parts of Germany, Austria, a great deal of Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Luxembourg, and Monaco. I'm absolutely in love with the Bay of Naples and Sorrento coast areas of Italy, which my husband and I recently re-visited on a trip that included Rome, Puglia, Umbria and Marche. I'm still looking forward to Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic . . . the list is too long ! One of the bonuses of travel is getting to taste the local cuisine, and afterward trying to figure out how to duplicate it at home. I think cooking is one of the nicest things a person can do for someone they love (including themself!) I had to submit a picture with me and my cat, Sophie, as she insists on sitting in my lap when I'm sitting at the computer. If you are wondering what all that stuff hanging on the wall behind us in the photo is, it is just a small part of my husband's military medal collection. He was appalled by my posting this picture-- Our study is the messiest room in our house (thank god!)
 
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