This recipe is not for the faint hearted or the time poor! It comes from this months Gourmet Traveller Magazine. I have changed the salad as I wanted to make the dish gluten free and I has some black rice in my pantry and I’ve been wanting to try and make a salad using black rice for a while. If you can find the time to put the preparation into this recipe, you will be rewarded with a very succulent tasty chicken and a great salad.
One of the joys of being a food blogger is that you are sent samples of wonderful produce to cook with. I received a big box of Red Belly Citrus blood oranges from Griffith last month. I worked my way through that box of delicious red oranges and enjoyed making marmalade, and baking with them and this is the red belly citrus orange and almond cake I baked. 
Then just when the last blood orange was devoured, my Gourmet Traveller arrived and in it a whole section with recipes using blood oranges! It’s strange how these things happen.
I really liked the look of the Orange-brined Chicken recipe. As I didn’t have everything I needed to follow the recipe exactly, I improvised a little. You can always substitute ingredients that you don’t have and don’t be afraid to change things a little.
Recipe
Ingredients – for the chicken
3 blood oranges, 1 quartered, 2 segmented
1 head of garlic halved plus 1 clove extra finely chopped
Olive oil for rubbing
Ingredients – for the rice salad
1 blood orange cut into segments
200 grams of black rice
1/2 spanish onion diced
1 tbsp of red orange juice and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
11/2 tbsp Sherry vinegar
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of roasted hazelnuts chopped coarsely
2 cups of baby spinach
A punnet of baby tomatoes
Chopped parsely
Diced garlic
Salt and pepper
Orange brine
160gm of sea salt flakes
1/4 cup of brown sugar
55ml of Cherry vinegar
2 blood oranges halved
1 lemon halved
1 head of garlic halved
2 tsp chilli flakes
2 cinnamon quills
and of course 1 large organic free range chicken.
Method
For orange brine, stir salt, sugar, vinegar and 1 litre of water in a saucepan over a medium heat to dissolve sugar and salt. Squeeze in juice from the blood orange and lemon halves then squeeze the fruit into the liquid with garlic and spices and bring the pot to a simmer.
Transfer to a large container that will fit the chicken snuggly and add 2.5 litres of cold water and refrigerate. When chilled add the chicken and push until submerged. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Turn occasionally.
To Roast
The next day heat the oven to 220C. Drain chicken and rinse under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels and then stuff with quartered blood oranges and halved garlic head. Tuck wings under and loosely truss the legs. Place in a roasting pan lined with baking paper and rub with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for around 45 minutes to an hour. I also sprinkled a few hazelnuts on top of the chicken.
For the Black Rice Salad
Wash your black rice several times and then leave standing in water overnight. Rinse off next morning and then boil in salted water until tender. Leave in a a colander until cool.
Combine chopped spanish onion, chopped garlic and blood orange juice in a bowl and season to taste. Let stand for 3-4 minutes until onion softens then add vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Add the zest of two blood oranges.
Place black rice, roasted hazelnuts, chopped baby tomatoes and baby spinach in a bowl with small segments of blood orange and toss with dressing.
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