You need
Serves 8-10
16-20 chicken thigh or breast portions, skin on and bone in
4 red onions, peeled and cut into 6-8 wedges
6 cloves garlic, peeled, cut in half
Handful of flat leaf parsley
Handful of fresh sage leaves
Coarsely ground salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
10ml Zatar (a Middle Eastern dried herb mix containing oregano, basil, thyme and summer savoury, you can substitute it with common dried mixed herbs)
5ml Sumac, optional (a Middle Eastern herb in powder form. It is brick red and has a lemony tartness) or 20ml lemon juice
250ml orange or other citrus juice
250ml good quality chicken stock
20ml grated orange, naartjie or mandarin zest
3-4 naartjies, mandarins or small oranges, cut into 5mm slices
To prepare
Use a large flat oven dish to accommodate all the chicken in a single layer
Place the onion, garlic, parsley and half the sage in the pan
Arrange the chicken portions on top
I slash through the chicken skin and part of the flesh to allow the flavours to penetrate
Sprinkle the dry seasoning and the remaining half of the sage leaves on the chicken. You can tuck some of the sage into the slashes.
Mix the citrus juice, zest and the stock and gently pour it over trying not to wash the seasoning off the chicken.
Reserve the slices citrus for later
Place the chicken into a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes. You can do this ahead of time.
About 20 minutes before serving, arrange the citrus slices over the chicken and roast for a further 20 minutes.
Serve with a starch such as couscous, baby potatoes or rice and a green vegetable.