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Coconut Vindaloo Harissa Chicken

A wonderful roasted chicken can be achieved simply with salt and pepper.  It will be heart warming, elegantly simple, and a great comfort dish, no matter how you do it.  Roasted chicken is a very forgiving dish - about an hour and a half and you are done, and happy.

But you can so easily kick it up with many simple variants.  Here I season with Indian vindaloo spice and Tunisian chili paste.  I mellow the whole dish with some coconut cream, placed at the base of the chicken while roasting.  I can't tell you how delicious this dish ends up.

A simple roasted chicken with a kicked up flavor, and a mighty delicious sauce, adding no additional time to a simple roasted chicken.
1 whole roaster chicken

Two batches each of:  2 Tbsp ghee, clarified butter (I used Trader Joe’s), or melted butter

2 Tbsp vindaloo Indian spice mix (I used Penzy’s)
2 Tbsp Harissa Middle Eastern Chili Paste (I used Trader Joe’s)
1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained - liquid reserved for another purpose
generous Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 cup dried apricots, (I used California Blenheim, from Trader Joe’s)
2 Tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes
1 can rich coconut cream, or milk, well homogenized

Preheat oven to 450F.  Oil a large roasting pan.  Clean and thoroughly dry the chicken.  Place chicken breast-side up in oiled pan.  Coat chicken and tomatoes with first batch of ghee, then dot the roast with the Harissa.
Smear Harissa all about the roast.  Sprinkle with vindaloo spice very generously all over the roast.  
Spread the drained diced tomatoes about the base of the chicken.  Now sprinkle the roast and tomatoes with the second batch of ghee, and salt and pepper generously to taste.  
Place chicken in oven and roast 20-30 minutes, until the roast begins to brown.
Remove roast from oven and reduce oven to 400F.  Scatter apricots about the tomatoes at the base of the pan. Now sprinkle roast and tomatoes with coconut flakes.  Pour the coconut cream about the tomatoes at the base of the chicken.  
Return the chicken to the oven and roast for about 45 minutes, until the roast starts to brown and sizzle, and the chicken is cooked through (a good estimate is about 15 minutes per pound, but you should check for doneness with a thermometer to be sure).
When cooked, remove the chicken to a large cutting board and allow to rest 10 minutes.  Carve the chicken and return any accumulated juices or sauce back into the pan.  Stir sauce contents in pan together to make a chunky sauce.  Transfer sauce to a serving bowl.  Transfer carved chicken pieces to a serving platter or bowl and serve with sauce on the side.
Excellent served with Basmati rice.  Serves 4-6.
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