Spicy Sunday Chicken

I have much to say about roast chicken in general, and the above roast chicken in particular.

First, I have an absolutely groovy Pyrex chicken roaster. It's one of those things I picked up at the hypermarché years ago, wondering if I'd really use it. Well do I ever! It is a simple affair -- the bottom part is what you see above and it has a similar-looking but shallower lid.

It makes roast chicken even more of a breeze than it already is. You just drop in your veggies, pour some liquid over them, plop your chicken on the top, close it all up with the lid, and bake it for the appropriate time depending on the weight of the chicken.

The Pyrex roaster keeps everything nice and moist, and you can see it sizzling along. The only delicate part of the procedure is taking the lid off -- watch out for steam burns.

Last Sunday I used my great roaster to make Poulet rôti aux épices et légumes racines from the January-February issue of Elle à table.

I simplified the recipe to the extreme. The chicken was supposed to be cut up, but mine was whole and stayed that way. The recipe called for several root vegetables, but I only had carrots on hand, so carrots it was -- with a few potatoes and a little celery thrown in because that's what else was in the fridge.

I followed the honey-spice mixture to the letter, though: the chicken was drizzled with a mixture of three tablespoons of honey, three tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon total of cinnamon, ground cloves, coriander, nutmeg and pepper. Served with fluffy white rice and a bit of fresh cilantro, it made for great Sunday fare and provided some tasty leftovers for the coming busy week.

Now for those of you who liked the concept two weeks ago, here was the "Sunday Stovetop" for this meal:

Bon dimanche!