Ingredients

Method

• 1 large free-range whole chicken
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 70 g Serrano ham
• 100 g butter
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• 3 Cara cara oranges, halved
• 1 lemon leaf
• 200 g baby carrots
• 4 cloves
• 1 garlic bulb, halved
• 5 oranges, juiced
• 1 lemon, halved
• 250 ml chicken stock
• 1 x 400 g butter beans can, drained and rinsed

Method

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Season the chicken both inside and out with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Place the chicken on a clean board, breast facing up, and cover the breast with the Serrano ham. Dot with a little butter and rub the wings and legs with the remaining butter and drizzle with olive oil.

4. Place one half of a Cara cara orange in the chicken cavity with a lemon leaf. Using butcher’s twine or craft string, truss the chicken’s legs together.

5. Place the baby carrots in a large baking tray and add the cloves, garlic, remaining Cara cara oranges, orange juice, lemon halves and stock.

6. Place the chicken on top of the baby carrots, making sure the chicken does not touch the bottom of the tray. Roast for 1½ hours.

7. Halfway through the roasting time, add the butter beans and continue roasting. As they roast, the skins of the beans will crisp and split.

8. Remove from the oven and squeeze the roasted Cara cara oranges and the lemons over the chicken and into the sauce. Allow to rest for 20 minutes. Serve with the beans, carrots and sweet citrus sauce.

Cook’s note: Cara cara oranges have the same skin as other navel oranges, but their flesh sets them apart. This cross between the Brazilian Bahia and Washington navel orange has a reddish-pink flesh that’s sweeter and more complex in flavour than similar fruit, with subtle undertones of cranberry.

Browse more roast chicken recipes here.