serves 6
I am always on the lookout for new, easy ways to roast a chicken. This recipe is hearty and gorgeous, especially good when the weather starts to get chilly. You can exchange the haloumi cheese, which is a specialty of Cyprus, for any firm cheese in the pasta filata family of cheeses, such as Greek formaella, provolone, scamorza, or caciocavallo.
1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds (1.8 kg), cut in half lengthwise and trimmed
3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin Greek olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups (290 g) teardrop or cherry tomatoes
3 cups (285 g) button mushrooms, trimmed and halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups (330 g) chopped canned tomatoes
½ cup (120 ml) dry white wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dried Greek oregano
2 bay leaves
1½ cups (195 g) ¾-inch (1.5 cm) cubes haloumi or other pasta filata cheese (see headnote)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
Place the chicken on a clean cutting board and flatten each half by pounding them lightly with a meat mallet.
In a large wide pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Carefully place one chicken half inside, skin-side down. Sear until golden brown and turn carefully with kitchen tongs to brown lightly on the other side. Set aside in a baking dish large enough to hold both halves in a single layer. Repeat with the remaining chicken half. Cover the baking dish and set aside.
Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan. Heat the remaining fat over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
Add the garlic and stir for a minute. Add the whole tomatoes and shake them around in the pan for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and gently stir to coat with the oil and soften slightly. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Pour in the canned tomatoes, raise the heat to medium-high, and add the wine. As soon as the alcohol cooks off, reduce the heat to medium-low, add the vinegar, oregano, and bay leaves, and cook for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld and to thicken the sauce slightly.
Season the chicken halves generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Spoon the sauce all around them and a little on top. Cover the baking dish with parchment paper, then aluminum foil, and roast for 25 minutes. Uncover and strew the haloumi cubes all around the chicken. Roast for 20 minutes more, until the chicken is tender and the haloumi is soft. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the parsley, and serve hot.
If vase paintings are any indication, chicken has been a part of the Greek table since at least the sixth century BC. Pottery from Rhodes and Sparta dating to that period depicts images of world’s most popular edible bird. One ancient name for the rooster was alektryon, meaning a creature that causes one to leave one’s bed, lektron. In the Greek colonies of southern Italy, the Sybarites banned chickens … in favor of a little more shut-eye every morning.
To this day on the Greek table, the age, sex, and size of the bird determine how it will be cooked. Old hens, as they say, have the most juice, and so are reserved for soup. Larger chickens are stuffed and roasted.
Small guinea hens, which are called frangokotes, or “French hens,” were mainly found in areas where there was a Catholic population, especially in the Ionian islands. Game hens can easily replace regular chicken in dishes such as the Roasted Chicken with Haloumi, Mushrooms, and Herbs here.
