Moroccan Roast Chicken with Ras el Hanout and Preserved Lemon

Moroccan roast chicken is a whole bird rubbed with a paste of ras el hanout, paprika, garlic, herbs and chopped preserved lemon (plus harissa if you like heat), then roasted on a bed of onions that turns into the sauce. For a 1.6–1.8 kg (3.5–4 lb) chicken, roast at 200 °C (400 °F) for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until the thigh reads 74 °C (165 °F), then rest 15 minutes. It takes 25 minutes of hands-on work and is my go-to when I want a Moroccan centrepiece for a Thanksgiving or Christmas table without cooking a turkey.

In Morocco, one of the classic chickens for celebrations is djaj mhammar, "reddened" chicken, which is braised first and browned afterwards. Most home ovens abroad do the whole job well in one go, so the main recipe below is a straight roast. The traditional two-stage method is further down if you want to try it.

At a glance

Ingredients

The chicken

The spice paste

The pan

Instructions

1. Dry the bird. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, inside and out. Dry skin browns; wet skin steams. Season the cavity with a pinch of the salt.
2. Make the paste. Quarter the preserved lemon, scrape out and discard the pulp, rinse the rind and chop it as finely as you can. Mash it in a bowl with the butter or smen, olive oil, garlic, ras el hanout, paprika, cumin, harissa, saffron water, the rest of the salt and the chopped herbs.
3. Rub it in. Slide your fingers under the breast and thigh skin to loosen it without tearing. Push about half the paste under the skin, right onto the meat, and rub the rest over the outside and inside the cavity. Tie the legs together with string.
4. Marinate. Leave 1 hour at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. A chilled bird goes back on the counter for 30 to 45 minutes before roasting.
5. Set up the pan. Heat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F), no fan. Toss the onion rings with 1 tbsp olive oil in a roasting pan, pour in the water and sit the chicken on the onions, breast up.
6. Roast. Roast for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, basting with the pan juices every 20 minutes. Paprika and harissa darken quickly, so if the breast is deep brown after 40 minutes, cover it loosely with foil.
7. Add the olives. Scatter them around the chicken for the last 20 minutes. If the onions start to catch, add a splash of water.
8. Check and rest. Push a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, without touching bone. At 74 °C (165 °F) it is done. Rest it 15 minutes, loosely covered with foil.
9. Serve. Carve, pile the soft onions, olives and juices around it and scatter with cilantro. Put bread on the table for the juices.

Substitutions for cooks abroad

In Japan, whole chickens are not always stocked in ordinary supermarkets; I ask at a butcher or buy bone-in legs (骨付きもも肉), which take the paste just as well. Harissa and ras el hanout turn up at import food shops and online.

The traditional way: braise, then brown (mhammar)

The Moroccan mhammar style cooks the chicken twice. The bird is rubbed with spices, smen and oil, simmered in a covered pot with plenty of onions and a little water until tender, then lifted out and browned in a hot oven while the onion liquid reduces into a thick sauce. It is richer than a plain roast, and the meat is very soft.

To do it with this recipe: put the rubbed chicken in a large lidded pot with the onions (chopped finely instead of in rings) and 250 ml (1 cup) water, cover and simmer on low for about 45 minutes, turning once. Then move it to a roasting pan and brown it at 220 °C (425 °F) for 20 to 25 minutes, until the skin is deep red-brown, while you boil the pot juices down until thick. Add the olives to the sauce at the end, and check the thigh still reads 74 °C (165 °F) before serving.

Getting it ready for a holiday table

• Two smaller birds beat one big one. Two 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) chickens side by side in a large pan cook in roughly the same time as one 1.5 kg bird, as long as there is space between them, and give you four legs instead of two. Double the paste.
• Marinate the day before. It frees the oven-day schedule and the flavour goes deeper.
• Spatchcock for speed. Cut out the backbone, press the bird flat and roast at 200 °C (400 °F) for about 45 to 60 minutes. Check with the thermometer.
• Sides that fit both worlds: roast potatoes or carrots tossed with a pinch of ras el hanout, a tomato and onion salad, couscous, and msemen or crusty bread.

Mistakes to avoid

Leftovers

Cool the chicken quickly, then keep it covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. The meat is good shredded into a sandwich with harissa and the leftover onions, or warmed through in the pan juices and served with bread.