Roasting with Relish

One of our favorite Sunday dinners is roast chicken. We love the anticipation the smell evokes as the chicken cooks, the ease of preparation, the delicious result, and the fact that we only have to cook once to eat twice. Roast chicken is heavenly and lovely fresh range chickens make the very best ones.

And so easy! Even My Beloved, who isn't exactly and adventurous chef, has enjoyed making his own version of roast chicken. We like to make it for company; if we prep the chicken ahead of time by basting it in olive oil, sprinkling it with fresh lemon juice (the rest of the lemon goes into the cavity for extra flavor) and dusting it with a generous shaking of Herbes de Provence, it can be roasting while we relax with a glass of wine, some nibbles and conversation with friends. If I'm feeding a big eater, like our friend Jack, I will also put some redskin potatoes and/or shallots around the chicken in the pan and drizzle them with a little olive oil. Just after the friends arrive, we slide the chicken into a 350 degree oven, baste it once or twice during the hour, and pull it out, ready to eat. It's not only delicious, it also makes an impressive presentation when MB wields his carving knife.

But, what we recently discovered is that roast chicken is even better when served with this Cranberry relish. We can't find it locally, even though we do find other products by this maker, so we order it online, six at a time. It has whole cranberries and a touch of orange - great with roast chicken!

So, next time you roast and enjoy a chicken, do it with relish!