From a Polish Country House Kitchen90 Recipes for the Ultimate Comfort Food

Anne Applebaum is the author of four books, including Gulag: A History, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. She is a columnist for the Washington Post and Slate.com, and director of Political Studies at the Legatum Institute in London. She lives in Poland, Washington, D.C., and London.
Danielle Crittenden blogs for the Huffington Post and her articles and essays have appeared in publications as wide-ranging as the Wall Street Journal and Ladies’ Home Journal. The author of three books, she lives in Washington, D.C.

 

Bogdan and Dorota Bialy are food photographers in Poland.

Roast Chicken with Clementines

(Kurczak Pieczony z Klementynkami)

 

Serves 4

 

This is our holiday version of weeknight roast chicken. Back in the days when

clementines were a rarity, they were what you got in your Christmas stocking.

Nowadays in Poland, as elsewhere, clementines are sold in cartons for the holidays,

and Poles buy them in bulk, placing them in enormous bowls on the table and

around the house, as an edible decoration and a symbol of seasonal abundance.

Anne often puts them on a platter, sprinkles a handful of walnuts and some dates

on top, and serves them with the after-dinner coffee, instead of dessert. That’s all

one wants after a heavy winter meal, after all.

 

Here the clementines are cooked whole, inside the chicken, where their juice

sweetens the gravy and their zest gives it bite. This is a very easy dish, perfect

for one of those nights around Christmas when you aren’t entertaining hordes

of cousins, but aren’t in the mood for leftovers either. To add to the laziness

factor, we throw some whole baking potatoes into the pan as well. Everyone

loves this dish.

 

To double the recipe, roast two small chickens in the same pan, rather than roasting

a larger one.

 

1 whole chicken (3 to 4 lb/1.4 to 1.8 kg)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 to 3 clementines, depending on the size of the chicken and the

clementines (you will be using them as stuffing), peel left on

Baking potatoes, with skin on (optional; 1 per person)

Salt

1 cup/240 ml orange juice, preferably fresh-squeezed

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, or 1. tsp dried

2 small shallots, peeled and minced

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas 4.

 

Wash the chicken and pat dry. Rub the outside with olive oil. Stuff the

whole, unpeeled clementines into the cavity—as many as will fit without spilling

out. Put the chicken in a roasting pan.

 

Roast the chicken for about 1. hours for a 4-lb/1.8-kg bird, or until the

juices run clear when the leg is pierced with the tip of a knife, basting occasionally

to brown the skin. For an even easier meal, rub some baking potatoes in salt,

and place them in another roasting pan in the oven beneath the chicken—they

will be ready when the chicken is. (Midway through roasting, pierce the potatoes

with a fork in several places and turn.)

 

Remove the chicken to a carving board and let rest. Skim off any fat from

the pan juices, and set the pan on top of the stove over low heat. Add the orange

juice, rosemary, and shallots; raise the heat; and bring to a boil. Lower the heat

again and simmer until reduced and thickened. Season with salt and pepper. You

will want to have about 1 cup/240 ml of orange gravy.

 

Remove the clementines from the chicken cavity, cut them in half, and

use them as garnish on the serving platter. Carve the chicken and pass the

sauce separately. Halve the baking potatoes lengthwise and serve them alongside

the chicken.