Roasted Chicken with Apple Chutney
Living abroad in Japan, this was my Thanksgiving meal this year. The Japanese don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, so it was very much a normal Thursday for us. My kids went to school and my husband was out of town on a business trip, so it was just me, the kids and my mother who was visiting. In Japan, turkeys are hard to come by and very expensive, so chicken was the easy alternative for me. Cranberries are also not available in normal Japanese supermarkets, so I went with my favorite apple chutney recipe to dress the chicken.
I roasted a whole chicken in a Dutch oven with a small Japanese pumpkin and half an onion, mimicking my Savory Mashed Kabocha recipe I posted last year. But if you can’t get your hands on a Japanese pumpkin, sweet potatoes would also work great in this recipe! When the chicken was finished cooking, I removed the chicken and used an immersion blender to puree the pumpkin and onion in the drippings from the chicken. I blanched a side of green beans, purchased a loaf of bread from a local bakery and voila! A simple Thanksgiving dinner complete!
Even though I made this on Thanksgiving, you could easily make it any night of the week. The seasonings I used on the chicken also go great on pork chops, and seasoned pork chops with this apple chutney is a go-to recipe of mine during the fall.
No matter what you cook…sweet potatoes or pumpkin…chicken or pork chops…I hope you enjoy this apple chutney fall dinner!
Ingredients:
4-5 lb whole chicken
1 Tbsp (or more) pink salt, more for final seasoning
1.5-2 lb Japanese pumpkin or sweet potato, skin removed, chopped
1/2 onion, largely diced
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp butter
For the apple chutney:
1 Tbsp butter
2 large apples, peeled, cored & diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp pink salt
1/8 tsp ground allspice
Chicken before roasting.
Instructions:
The day before you cook the chicken, season it with salt making sure to get underneath the skin. Place it, covered, back in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a small bowl combine the chili powder, garlic powder, ground coriander and pepper and mix together. Rub the seasoning mixture all around the chicken, including underneath the skin.
Place the chicken in a large Dutch oven. Spread pumpkin (or sweet potatoes) and onions around the chicken. Place a few pats of butter on top of the chicken.
Bake with the lid on for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours (depending on the size of your chicken) until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
Meanwhile, make the apple chutney. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add diced apples and sauté for 5-10 minutes to soften. Add cranberries and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer another 10-15 minutes, or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally.
When chicken is finished cooking; remove from the Dutch oven onto cutting board for slicing.
Remove about half of the liquid from the bottom of the pot, but don’t discard. Using an immersion blender, puree the pumpkin (or sweet potatoes) and onion together, adding a little more of the liquid until as needed until it reaches your desired consistency. Season with pink salt to taste, and butter if you’d like.
To serve, smear a dollop of pureed pumpkin onto a plate, top with sliced chicken breast (or a chicken leg/thigh) and a spoonful (or two) of apple chutney. Serve with a green veggie of choice.
Just pulled from the oven.