Sweet & Sour Roast Chicken

Beware! You will not find in this posting the recipe for the traditional Chinese sweet and sour pork/meat. Instead, you will be treated to a very Western-style roast chicken that is imbued with the sweetness from the bed of pineapples, onions and capsicums on which the chicken is roasted.

When I first bought Jaime Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef, I saw this recipe and was quite curious on the medley of flavors that would be produced from:

• first, seasoning the chicken with chopped fresh parsley (I use Italian parsley) and grated ginger
• second, roasting the chicken on a bed of red and yellow capsicums (peppers) quartered, pineapple peeled and quartered, red onions peeled and quartered, fresh red chillies seeded and halved, sprinkled with crushed fennel seeds, salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil
• third, the sweet and sour sauce made from half or less of the roasted vegetables pureed with some sugar and balsamic vinegar
  

This serves as a great one-pot dish together with steamed jasmine rice, the chicken is really juicy and tender with great flavor from the parsley and ginger, and the roasted vegetables (especially the pineapple) are just so sweet. During the last half hour or so of roasting, the aromas wafting through the kitchen from this dish is guaranteed to cause your stomach juices to kick into high gear! I have made this dish a couple of times and have even substituted the fresh pineapple with canned pineapple cubes, still acceptable.

If you're interested in producing this dish, check out the full recipe here.