Here’s my ‘still trying hard to hold on to summer but the trees outside my house are turning yellow and I can’t fight with mother nature’ meal. A whole roasted chicken with the besttttt apricot chipotle sauce. Using up all the seasonal apricots I got from the market, but making it more autumny by turning them into a spicy, savoury sauce. Also - everything cooked in one pan.
Makes 1 small chicken
Ingredients
1 head of garlic, top cut off
10-11 (200 grams) fresh apricots, pitted and halved
2 sweet white onions, cut in big chunks
1 tbs balsamic vinegar (I used cherry infused balsamic vinegar)
2 tbs olive oil, divided
1 tbs brown sugar
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced to a paste, divided
2 tbs butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 small roasting chicken, pat dry with a paper towel
Salt and pepper
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. In the bottom of a deep roasted pan, combine the apricots, onions, head of garlic, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, 1 tbs olive oil, 1 1/2 minced chipotle peppers, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well until fully coated.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave. Add remaining olive oil, lemon juice, and the remaining minced chipotle. Mix well to combine. Rub all over chicken, making sure to get inside the cavity as well. Rub the chicken generously with salt and pepper, including inside the cavity. It is up to you how much salt and pepper you want to add, but I usually do just under half a tablespoon of each.
3. Place a roasting rack in the roasting pan above the apricots. Place the chicken on the rack, breast side up. Roast for 1 hour, then remove from oven.
4. Once cool enough to handle, remove the head of garlic from the pan and squeeze the cloves out. Discard of the skin. Transfer all of the contents from the bottom of the roasting pan (including the juices), along with the garlic cloves to a food processor. Grind until you have a thick sauce of your desired consistency. Generously rub the chicken with half of the sauce, making sure to also get inside the cavity as well. Return to the oven until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F in the meatiest part. For my chicken, this took roughly 20-30 additional minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes then carve and serve with remaining sauce.