Swedish Roast Chicken With Spiced Apple Rice

"From Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit, who says it was what his Swedish Grandmother made on Sunday nights. My change is to add some additional liquid to the pan so that you have enough to make sauce to pour sparingly over the chicken and rice."
 
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photo by ncmysteryshopper photo by ncmysteryshopper
photo by ncmysteryshopper
Ready In:
2hrs 10mins
Ingredients:
24
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
  • Blanch the sweet potato in boiling water for two minutes, then drain, rinse in cold water and drain again.
  • In a medium bowl, combine sweet potato, onion, apples, shallots, garlic, thyme and mint.
  • Combine the 2 tablespoons of water and the olive oil and add to the vegetable mixture, tossing to coat.
  • With a mortar and pestle (or with the back of a heavy skillet against a cutting board) lightly crush the cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves, black and white peppercorns (you can use all black if that's what you have) with the teaspoon of kosher salt.
  • Add half the spice mixture to the vegetables and reserve the rest.
  • Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.
  • Remove all the excess fat.
  • Lightly stuff the bird's cavity with about half the vegetable mixture and tie the bird's legs together with kitchen string.
  • Place the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and rub it all over with the reserved spice mixture.
  • Scatter the remaining vegetable mixture around the chicken.
  • Roast for about one hour.
  • Remove the vegetables that are loose in the pan and set aside in a bowl.
  • Continue roasting for another 30 minutes or until your meat thermometer, inserted in the thigh, reaches 160°F.
  • During this time, if the pan becomes too dry, add water a few tablespoons at a time.
  • Transfer chicken to a board, remove stuffing and add it to the other vegetables, and cover the chicken loosely with foil.
  • Keep the vegetables warm.
  • Place the roasting pan over heat on the stove top and add the water and stock or white wine.
  • Bring liquid to a boil, stirring and scraping to deglaze the pan.
  • Pour the liquid into a measuring cup, degreasing as best you can.
  • Pour about 1/2 of a cup of the liquid into a sauceboat and keep warm.
  • Add, if necessary, water to the remaining de-glazing liquid so that you have one cup.
  • Combine the rice, one cup of water, one cup of deglazing liquid and the salt in a medium saucepan.
  • Bring to a boil over high heat.
  • As soon as the rice boils, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook the rice till done, about 18 minutes.
  • Remove from heat and fold rice together with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of the yogurt and the reserved vegetables.
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Combine the remaining yogurt with the pan juices in the sauce boat.
  • Carve the chicken and serve with rice, passing the sauceboat for those who need a little extra liquid.

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Reviews

  1. This is my families new favorite roast chicken! I was worried that the flavor of the spices would be strong, but it was mild yet very flavorful and very moist and tender. The kids even loved it especially the rice and they never eat rice. This recipe is delicious and pretty easy to make and is well worth the time.
     
  2. Thank a lot for this special the recipe. I used what I found at home and I modified the recipe: 4 medium potatoes instead of the sweet potatoe and quinces instead of apples. It was really excellent and different with such spices!
     
  3. Absolutely yummy! I’m only writing a quickie review for now as my internet connection is currently so dodgy that sometimes I’m only connected for a few minutes in twelve hour period. VERY frustrating. I’ll come back later and review this again when these problems have been resolved!
     
  4. I've chosen this chicken to satisfy the Swedish national day challenge in the Zaar World Tour 2006. I thought if this dish used to be Marcus Samuellsson's grandmother's Sunday dish, then it is definitely good enough to eat it on Sweden's national day! I enjoyed the subtle flavour of the spices on the chicken, but what I loved best was the wonderful rice that goes with the chicken. I also appreciated the sauce very much. Thank you Kate for creating it to pour it over the chicken and rice! It surely is a wonderful addition to this recipe. I must add, however, that BF was less enthusiastic of this dish. He claimed that he couldn't taste the spices at all (liar! - I could!), that he has never seen a Swedish person eating sweet potatoes and that he preferred Greek lemon-oregano chicken or Italian rosemary-paprika chicken. However, I thoroughly enjoied this dinner and I only wished that I had cooked more rice (1 1/2 cups instead of just 1). In my eyes, this recipe certainly deserves 5 stars! Thank you Kate!
     
  5. Ohh, wonderful. Great directions. A great roast chicken. I don't get to make one very often, but this is definately a keeper. My husband would let me use the anis on pain of death. :( Zaar World Tour 05
     
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Tweaks

  1. Thank a lot for this special the recipe. I used what I found at home and I modified the recipe: 4 medium potatoes instead of the sweet potatoe and quinces instead of apples. It was really excellent and different with such spices!
     
  2. This is the most phenomenal chicken ever! This is hands down the BEST roast chicken I have ever made (and that is saying a lot as I make about one a week!). This is the most tender, most flavorful, best texture, best tasting whole chicken recipe out there. The rice is wonderful and really adds to the dish! There is a reason that Marcus is recognized as a top Swedish chef and this recipe exemplifies that reason! I chose to use a nice Sauvignon Blanc instead of the chicken stock, excellent addition to the recipe Chef Kate! I did not have star anise, so I simply left it out and since I used ground cloves, I dont think it made that much of a difference. Lovely, Lovely Recipe! Very clear directions! Thank you so much for posting this one!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I have always loved to cook. When I was little, I cooked with my Grandmother who had endless patience and extraordinary skill as a baker. And I cooked with my Mother, who had a set repertoire, but taught me many basics. Then I spent a summer with a French cousin who opened up a whole new world of cooking. And I grew up in New York City, which meant that I was surrounded by all varieties of wonderful food, from great bagels and white fish to all the wonders of Chinatown and Little Italy, from German to Spanish to Mexican to Puerto Rican to Cuban, not to mention Cuban-Chinese. And my parents loved good food, so I grew up eating things like roasted peppers, anchovies, cheeses, charcuterie, as well as burgers and the like. In my own cooking I try to use organics as much as possible; I never use canned soup or cake mix and, other than a cheese steak if I'm in Philly or pizza by the slice in New York, I don't eat fast food. So, while I think I eat and cook just about everything, I do have friends who think I'm picky--just because the only thing I've ever had from McDonald's is a diet Coke (and maybe a frie or two). I have collected literally hundreds of recipes, clipped from the Times or magazines, copied down from friends, cajoled out of restaurant chefs. Little by little, I am pulling out the ones I've made and loved and posting them here. Maybe someday, every drawer in my apartment won't crammed with recipes. (Of course, I'll always have those shelves crammed with cookbooks.) I'm still amazed and delighted by the friendliness and the incredible knowledge of the people here. 'Zaar has been a wonderful discovery for me.</p>
 
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