Roasted Chicken with Black Grapes, Onions, and Lemon

Roasted Chicken with Black Grapes, Onions, and Lemon

Serves 4-6

1 whole roasting chicken, giblets removed

½ lemon

2 cups seedless black grapes removed from their stems

2 medium sweet onions, cut into 2 inch dice

¼ cup poultry seasoning of choice, must have plenty of salt. I used a combination of ground sage, coriander, fennel, rosemary, dried garlic, black pepper, and salt.  Whatever you use/make should taste just a little saltier than you are comfortable with as the salt causes the skin to tighten and leads to a juicer chicken.

Preheat the oven to 500. I prefer to cook my chicken in a 10 inch cast iron skillet. If you decide to do the same, preheat the skillet in the oven. Otherwise prepare a sheet pan with foil.

Pat the chicken dry and then stuff the cavity with as many grapes as you can. Cap the opening with the ½ of a lemon with the cut side of the lemon towards the grapes. You will sprinkle the rest of the grapes in the pan you are roasting the chicken in.

Generously coat the outside of the chicken in the poultry seasoning, making sure to cover as much of the bird as possible.

Once the oven is preheated, remove the skillet, if using, and carefully place the bird into the hot skillet.  It will sound very dramatic. Don’t panic. Sprinkle the remaining grapes and the chopped onion around the chicken and return to the oven. 

If you are using a sheet pan, do not preheat it in the oven. Instead, place the prepared chicken in the center of the sheet pan and sprinkle the remaining grapes and chopped onion around the bird.

Regardless of the pan, roast the chicken at 500 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 and continue to cook per the weight of the bird. Usually around 45 minutes to an hour. Test the temperature of the chicken by inserting a quick read meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. The chicken is done when it reads 165.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, then carve and transfer the bird and roast grapes and onions to a serving platter. Don’t forget to remove the lemon (you could squeeze this over the carved bird) and pour the grapes out of the cavity.

This goes well with just plain basmati rice with ghee, salt, and pepper. 

You can make a quick pan sauce of the drippings (after you have removed the chicken and all the onions and grapes) if you have used a cast iron skillet by adding ½ cup of sweet vermouth, cooking sherry, or masala wine directly to the skillet and bringing to a hard boil over high heat. Let cook until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. If you have used a sheet pan you can do the same thing by pouring the drippings into a saucepan and going from there.