– 1 free range chicken
– 3 oranges
– 100g butter, softened and cubed
– 5 tbsp honey
– 1 bunch tarragon
– 300ml red wine
Preheat the oven to 200C, clean and pat dry your chook and put it into a deep roasting pan.
You will need the zest from all 3 oranges, and the juice of 2 of them.
Chop the tarragon, reserving a couple of sprigs. Mix the chopped tarragon with 50g of the butter and the orange zest. Stuff this mixture into the cavity of the chicken.
In another bowl mix the honey in with the orange juice. Season the chicken and rub a little extra butter into the skin, then pour the honey and juice over. Put the wine and remaining butter into the roasting pan (but not over the chicken!) with the remaining tarragon sprigs.
Bake for 20 min at 200C, then reduce the heat to 160C. Cook for another 30 minutes or so, the chicken is done with the juices run clear when the flesh is pierced with a skewer.
Take the chicken out of the pan, cover and set aside. Strain the pan juice into a saucepan and heat until reduced to your liking, and serve with the chicken. I didn’t have the patience to reduce by half as the original recipe required, so I had a fair bit of sauce left over to be used in the future. A plus!