Roasted chicken with pineapple curry sauce

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 Stalks fresh lemon grass,
About 9 inches each
1 Piece gingerroot (about 4
Inches), finely sliced
6 Cloves garlic, peeled,
Bashed, and chopped
2 Whole chickens, about 3 1/2
pounds Each, rinsed and dried
For the Pineapple Curry
Sauce:
1 teaspoon Light olive oil
¾ cup Finely diced sweet onion
1 tablespoon India Ethmix (recipe
Follows) or good Madras
Curry
1 tablespoon Peeled and grated
Gingerroot
2 larges Cloves garlic, peeled,
Bashed, and finely chopped
1 tablespoon Finely sliced lemongrass
¾ cup Low-sodium chicken or
Vegetable stock
⅓ cup Frozen pineapple juice
Concentrate
¼ cup Yogurt cheese (recipe
Follows)
½ teaspoon Coconut extract
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce

Directions

To prepare the chickens:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the tough outside layer of the lemongrass stalk and cut off the root end and the dry top. Starting from the root end, cut the most tender, bulb-like part of the stalk into thin diagonal slices.

Combine the lemongrass, ginger, and garlic and divide between the cavities of the two chickens. Turn the chickens breast down on a plate so that the seasonings fall against the inside of the breasts.

Insert a vertical poultry roaster into each chicken and stand upright. Tie the legs together with cotton string and tuck the wings behind the breast. Set the chickens in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. If you don't have a vertical roaster, lay the chickens on a rack in a roasting pan. Tie the legs together with cotton string and tuck the wings behind the breast. Whichever roasting method you are using, pour 1½ cups of warm water into the bottom of the baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chickens reach 140 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh. (The chickens in the roasting pan may take an extra 10 minutes.) Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes. The final internal temperature should be 160 degrees F. To prepare the sauce: Warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion and the India Ethmix until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger, garlic, and lemon grass, and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the chicken stock and pineapple juice concentrate, stirring to incorporate. Cook for an additional 3 minutes. Strain the sauce through a sieve into a small saucepan using a puree press or the back of a spoon. Whisk together the yogurt cheese, coconut extract, and Thai fish sauce in a 2-cup glass measure. Pour a little of the hot pineapple sauce into the yogurt mixture and stir to warm the yogurt cheese. Add the tempered yogurt cheese to the sauce and whisk until smooth. Cover and set aside to keep warm. To assemble the dish: Remove the chickens from the roasting pan and pour the cooking juices into a fat strainer. Remove the vertical roasters if you were using them. Remove and discard the skin. Cut the legs and breast meat away from the carcasses. Put aside 1 leg and 1 breast for another meal. Slice the meat from the remaining breasts and legs and arrange on a warmed plate. Cover and keep warm. Pour the de-fatted pan juices into a small saucepan and boil vigorously until the liquid is reduced to about ¼ cup. Allow to cool for a minute, then stir into the curry sauce.

Arrange slices of chicken on a warmed plate and spoon curry sauce over the meat.

Yield: 6 servings

COOKING LIVE SHOW #CL8980

(Recipes courtesy of Graham Kerr, The Gathering Place)

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