Serves 4-6
Prep time: 5-10 mins | Cooking time: 1 hour
Perhaps the best known and most widely observed Simanim custom at this time of year is that of dipping (or drizzling) apple in honey or sugar. Apples are good for us, but not always sweet; and what is sweet is not always good for us, but as we say ‘shana tova u’metuka’, we are making a prayer for a year that is both good and sweet.
Our tribute to this custom is a riff on ‘beer can chicken,’ cooking the whole bird upright on a ‘tinny’ of cider, as shown. The method involves regular basting, which keeps the meat beautifully moist as the outside crisps up and the onions and apples in the base of the pan slowly stew into a delicious gravy.
N.B. For a simpler method and a more intensely sweet dish, you can use pieces of chicken and cook as a tray bake, pouring the entire can of cider into the base along with all the other ingredients, covering with foil and roasting for approx 1h, then uncover until the skin crisps up.
Ingredients
- Large Whole Chicken
- 2-3 Onions, ribboned
- 6 Apples, cored and cut into chunks
- 1-2 tbsp Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 can of Apple Cider
- 40g Margarine, softened
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 1½ tbsp Garlic powder
Method
- Preheat oven to180ºC (360ºF/Gas Mark 4).
- Ribbon your onions and sprinkle with ¼ tsp salt. Add them to an ovenproof casserole dish alongside the apples, whole cloves of garlic, 1-2 tbsp of oil and ½tsp black pepper. Stir to combine, then drizzle over ⅓ of the can of cider.
- Next make your marinade. Combine softened margarine with the garlic powder, honey, ¼ tsp black pepper and ⅓ of the cider and
set aside. - Take the chicken and remove any butchers twine and any giblets that may be inside the cavity. Clear a space in the centre of your casserole dish and place the can of cider, (which should have about ⅓ left in it), in the centre of the dish. Place the chicken onto the can so that it is standing up in the dish (as pictured on the previous spread).
- Take your marinade and generously spread it over the chicken, getting into the nooks and under the skin.
- Place the chicken uncovered into the oven, checking and basting every 20 mins for 90 minutes, ensuring the chicken is cooked all the way through. The skin should be golden brown.
- Remove the chicken carefully from the can, and place separately ready to carve. Pour the remainder of the cider into the casserole dish and heat through with the onion, apple, chicken shmultz mixture, adding cornflour if desired to create a thickened gravy.
- Served the carved chicken topped with the apple/onion mixture.
Serving suggestion:
Serve with roasted baby potatoes and green veg. Optionally, serve with roasted carrots, spinach and beets to tick off more of the Simanim.
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