Citrussy Chicken

I am back home from the Caribbean and was looking for some meat. I ate a lot of vegetarian food during my holidays because the meat came most of the time from Brazil and organic or free range was not to get.

The food on the island of Curacao is based on imports from the Netherlands, the USA, Brazil and Venezuela. You only see small farms when driving around the island,  but not a lot grows there.

I bought a free range chicken today and planned to use it in different ways.

To give the chicken in the oven a nice flavour, I used a whole lemon. First some zest mixed with the butter, then the whole lemon in the back cavity of the chicken, pierced with toothpicks to secure it.

Rub the chicken outside with the lemon butter, salt and pepper. Add a good tablespoon of Zaatar and a tsp of additional Sumac.
Give it a bit of sweetness with dark coconut flower syrup.

recipe:
1,6 kg free range chicken
50 g butter
1 lemon
1 tbsp Zaatar
1 tsp Sumac
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven 170 C fan or 190 C
Zest the lemon and mix it with the butter. Rub the chicken with it. Salt and pepper inside and outside.
Stick the lemon in and secure it with toothpicks.
Cover with Zaatar and Sumac.
Drizzle the syrup over on both sides.

Bake for 75 min.
Serve it with oven roasted sweet potato wedges.

Use the carcass as base for a chicken stock later.