HONEY SPICED ROAST CHICKEN

I need to break out of this spell of stubbornly cooking the same few chicken dishes each time I face a chicken.

Inspite of having a book of  '365 Easy Chicken Recipes' I find myself with 3 or less ways with the bird when my pan and I take a few moments off to tap our feet and contemplate. Only to come together again, unyielding to the 365 easy chicken recipes. Thus making the same ole' same ole', choreographing the same familiar steps with the same mix of ingredients. Like having an unrelenting faith in a 3 dimensional world when there stands a mathematically proven and plausible existence of a ten dimensional one. 

I'm on a quest. To willingly expand my tried and tested repertoire of chicken recipes. Out of necessity, boredom, familiarity and contempt. And since I am not inclined to chicken breasts I may very well be concentrating on whole chicken legs...very likely... forever. And ever. Until I break out of this other chicken spell.

Spices add such a rich, aromatic and deep flavour to the chicken and combined with honey it gives a crisp crackling skin when roasted. 


Although confusing to the uninitiated the few basic spices and their names aren't all that hard to remember and recognize if you have done your homework :)

In this recipe I used coriander seeds which simply look like little round and brown seeds. And instead of fennel I used cumin which I think are the two spices that caused me some perplexity when I first drowned myself in spice world. Now I know that cumin is the smaller and darker of the two. 


Done . Only two spices are used in this chicken dish. Easy peasy.


The Recipe ~ 

2 chicken thighs, skin on, left whole, cleaned and wiped dry
4-5 T coriander seeds
2 1/2 T fennel OR cumin (I used cumin)
salt 
4, 5 or 6 T honey

2-3 T cooking oil 


Pre heat oven to 350.


Roast coriander seeds, fennel OR cumin in a dry pan until fragrant. Pound these until coarsely crushed. Add salt and then stir in the honey adjusting the amount until you get a sticky spreadable paste. You may use the pestle to do this. Or a spoon.

Spread the spice mix over the chickens thighs only on the skin side. Pat mixture into place nice and thickly.


Heat a heavy pan. Add oil and place the spiced chicken thighs, spiced side down first, into the pan. Sear the chicken pieces on both sides until lightly golden.


Transfer to a baking dish and roast in a pre-heated oven at 350 for about 40 -50 minutes or until a skewer inserted near the bone releases a clear liquid.

Place chicken on a platter and scoop up the juices from the roasting pan to dribble over the chicken.  I served it with rice. As always.

Look at that glaze. How can you not be spellbound?