I was chillaxing on Sunday, and one of the ways I relax is to watch cooking and decorating shows. As I was surfing, I happened to find Ching’s Chinese New Year on the Cooking Channel. I very much enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year’s customs, their culture, and traditional Chinese celebration food. I am including the URL for A Spot of Ty where Ty, a friend of Ching’s, talks about the premiere of the Ching’s program: http://thealternativepress.com/articles/chings-chinese-new-year-premieres-sunday-night.
I must say that the plating for the food was luxurious, and I was hungry just watching the food preparation. So, I’m going to share the recipe of the dish that appealed the most to me – Soy Spice Roasted Chicken – with gratitude to the Cooking Channel for publishing this recipe.
Ingredients
- Chicken Rub
- One 4-pound roasting chicken
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- Zest of 1 Mandarin orange, remaining orange reserved for later use
- Chicken Stuffing
- 2 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces and bruised
- 3 whole star anise
- 1 Fresno chile, split in half
- One 2-inch piece ginger, sliced into coins
- 1 Mandarin orange
- Basting Sauce
- 4 tablespoons honey (To follow the citrus theme, we recommend our Orange Blossom Honey.)
- 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- Chinese Salsa Verde
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons chile oil
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons red rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 2 red chiles, seeded and finely chopped
- 2 scallions, finely chopped
- 1 large mandarin, zested and juiced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pat the chicken dry inside and out with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine the peanut oil, five-spice powder, salt and pepper. Stir the zest into the spices. Rub the chicken inside and out with the spice mixture.
- For the stuffing: Stuff the bird with the scallions, star anise, chile, ginger and orange (cut into pieces if needed). Roast the chicken for 1 hour undisturbed.
- For the basting sauce: Combine the honey and soy sauce. After the chicken has cooked for 1 hour, baste the chicken liberally every 10 minutes until it is cooked through and an internal thermometer reads 160 degrees F, 30 to 40 minutes more. Remove the chicken and let rest tented with foil for 10 minutes before serving. Chicken temperature will reach 165 degrees F while resting.
- For the salsa: While chicken rests, whisk together the ginger, chile oil, soy sauce, vinegar, peanut oil, chiles, scallions and mandarin juice and zest until well combined.
- Carve the chicken and serve the salsa on the side.
