For a citrus flavor to roasted or baked chicken, mix lemon, tangerine, lime, and orange juices--mixed citrus juices and add a pinch of powdered ginger just before you put the boneless chicken in the overn to bake. The citrus juice-based chicken and ginger recipe also is called "Pollo Arrosto All'Arancia, Limone, e Zenzero."
Legend says that ginger came to southern Italy, including Sicily with Arabic and Greek traders from the Levant, Cyprus, Crete, and North Africa and also with Jewish immigrants from Spain and the Levant, Tuscan immigrants vacationing in the South of Italy, and also had been in use for centuries with immigrants, of any given religion or none, living in the areas around Rome and Tuscany since 200 BCE.
Only citrus trees didn't even get to Sicily in those ancient times and actually a fish sauce was used to baste the chicken before citrus trees arrived in Southern Europe and the Levant from the Silk Road, specifically from China. My medieval times, the citrus juices basting the baked boneless chicken was topped with pine nuts lightly browned in olive oil and a sprinkle of currants or golden raisins.
You can mix raisins and pine nuts with orange, lemon, ginger, and pomegranate. Baste the chicken with this mixture or stuff chicken with a mixture of raisins, pine nuts, dill, cinnamon and cloves. The cloves and cinnamon should be powdered, not whole. Ginger can be peeled and grated fresh as a marinade over the chicken mixed with lemon juice, pomegranate juice, dill, sumac, and orange juice.
To buy sumac try your local Mediterranean market or Middle Eastern food store to find sumac or zatar. Or buy zatar and sumac online at Dean & Deluca's sumac at the Shopzilla site. Or buy online from My Spice Sage.
Kids love making savory meals sweet, especially for the winter holidays. Here's how to dress up roasted chicken with flavors of raisins, pine nuts, pomegranate, lemon, and orange all mixed together with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. You can substitute dill for the cinnamon and cloves or just use orange, lemon, and ginger.
All your savory entrées can be spiced up by adding orange, lemon, and ginger. Try recipes such as Roast Chicken with Orange, Lemon, and Ginger Recipe or Sephardic Roast Chicken With Orange, Lemon, And Ginger Recipe. For the coming spring holidays, highly recommended is the book, Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen Cucina Ebraica, by Joyce Goldstein.
For winter holiday cooking, try the recipes for, Crostini di Peperoni, (a superb version of Bruschetta). See a recipe for crostini di Peperoni online, Crostini di Peperoni Roast Peppers & Goat's - Organic Tuscany. Potato and Tomato gratin, and Fresh Tuna with Peas. Also see, Roast Chicken With Orange, Lemon & Ginger Recipe - Food.com. Also see, The Medieval Beginnings of Sicilian Cuisine. Also try the Mushroom Crostini Recipe.
The recipes combine Italian, Sicilian, and Middle-Eastern flavors. The idea is a warm meal mixing savory with citrus using olive oil instead of animal fat.
This recipe makes about 4 servings. You can see a similar recipe at Bon Appétit. Also see the recipe for orange, lemon, ginger chicken at Epicurious. Or try the recipe, Roast Chicken With Orange, Lemon & Ginger Recipe - Food.com. Also check out the orange, lemon, ginger chicken recipe at Epicurious.com.
Basically you use just one lemon for a 5 lb roasting chicken. You grate the lemon and cut the lemon into quarters. Then you grate the orange to get some of the zest. Use organic oranges.
You'll be using 3 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger that you peel first. Put aside 4 tablespoons of olive oil. You'll need 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. You can sweeten with either a pinch of stevia or 3 tablespoons of honey and orange slices, circles, or wedges to garnish the chicken. Also put aside 4 tablespoons of pomegranate juice in a cup. You'll baste with pomegranate juice after the chicken is roasted.
All you're going to do is preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. and cut the lemon into quarters. Just rub the chicken with the lemon quarters and discard them after rubbing the raw chicken. You'll then in a bowl mix the lemon juice and the orange juice with the zests (small amount of grated rind) of the lemon and oranges and put in a tablespoon of the grated ginger (peeled).
Sautee in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil a handful of pine nuts until golden brown. You'll be sprinkling the nuts over the roasted chicken when it's done roasting.
Next, you're going to rub the mixture all over the chicken, inside the cavity and out. If you can't buy a whole chicken, you can marinate the chicken breasts or other parts in this mixture. If you can buy a whole chicken which is sometimes hard to find these days in a supermarket, put the chicken in a roasting pan. If you don't want chicken, you can do this with turkey parts or any type of poultry, foul, or bird. But traditionally, chicken is used.
Now season with your favorite spices and herbs or just use salt and pepper. Optional, you can add chopped dill and make your chicken taste more Middle Eastern by adding a few handfuls of pine nuts and a dash of cinnamon and cloves. Or pour more orange juice over the chicken to make it sweet and savory or more lemon and orange to have a sweet but tangy, tart taste.
Take a small bowl with olive oil, lemon, and orange juice. To sweeten more, add honey or a pinch of stevia. Add two tablespoons of grated peeled ginger and mix. If you're using sumac or zatar, put a pinch or two in the olive oil.
If you're working with a whole chicken, put it in the roasting pan on its side. Roast 10 minutes. Turn it and roast on the other side an additional 10 minutes. Optional, roast the chicken with a handful of raisins and pine nuts. The more nuts and dried fruit, the closer the taste comes to historical Levantine cooking and the further south in Italy and/or Sicily, you'll find this traditional winter holiday cooking.
You're going to turn that 400 degree F. oven down to only 350 degrees F. And turn the chicken so it faces breast side up. Roast until done, at least another 40 minutes or until the juices run clear and the chicken is not pink and is soft and chewable.
Most likely, you'll need to roast that chicken for one hour. Stick a fork in the chicken and make sure the juices are clear and not cloudy or undercooked looking.
Keep basting with the citrus juice several times, about 4 or 5 times as you roast the chicken. If you're using turkey or other poultry, you'll have to roast longer depending upon the weight of your bird.
Put the chicken or poultry on a platter and let it cool for a few minutes. Now baste with the 4 tablespoons of pomegranate juice about 10 minutes before serving. Now sprinkle with lightly sauteed, golden pine nuts just before serving. Check out a similar recipe at the Food.com site.
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