Harissa roast chicken with jewelled cous cous recipe

This harissa roast chicken with jewelled cous cous is perfect for a summers evening

Whether it’s for a Sunday roast or a mid-week treat, roast chicken always goes down a treat. We’ve accompanied this roast chicken with a fruity jewelled cous cous. You could leave the cous cous and serve it with perfect roast potatoes and all the trimmings for a more traditional roast. We’ve got lots of ideas for sides in our roast dinner recipes.

Harissa is a great way to flavour chicken. Not all harissa tastes the same though, some is much hotter. Pick one that is suitable for your love of spice. Harissa naturally includes rose petals but we’ve added more for extra decadence and a subtle flavour. The rose petals also make it a great recipe for celebrating Valentine’s Day.

For more ideas on how to roast chicken, check out our roast chicken recipes. 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/ Gas 7. Mix the yogurt and 1tbsp rose harissa together and refrigerate until serving.
2. Beat the butter, rose harissa and rose petals together to make a paste. Rub this mixture all over the chicken breasts and legs – you can also rub some under the skin – and place the bird in a roasting tin.
3. Bash the garlic cloves with the edge of a knife to crush lightly and put inside the cavity of the chicken. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze a little of the juice from each half over the chicken and then put them inside the cavity, too.
4. Roast the chicken for 20 mins, baste it, then turn down the oven to 180C/ Gas 4. Continue to roast for a further 45 mins to 1 hr, until the juices run clear. If the chicken begins to brown too much, you can cover it with tin foil. Remove the chicken from the oven, cover it with foil and leave it to rest.
5. Prepare the couscous according to the pack instructions; use a mix of hot chicken stock and lemon juice instead of water. Once the couscous is cooked, fluff it up with a fork and carefully mix through the lemon zest, pomegranate seeds, dried apricots, almonds and some chopped coriander.
6. Serve the chicken on a bed of coriander with the couscous and Greek yogurt.