Morrocan Spiced spit roast chicken

Sunday was another nice day, nice enough to barbecue Sunday dinner, and I really fancied a spit roast chicken.  Spit roasting a chicken really is the best way to cook a whole chicken, somehow it keeps it moister than conventional roasting.  I have a back burner on my barbecue which is great as the heat comes from the side and not from below the chicken, and therefore no flare ups.

But even with the spit roasting I wanted a flavourful rub to really make it sing so I decided to make a spice rub inspired by Moroccan spices.

I used a tablespoon of each of the following

dried ginger
sumac
cumin
coriander
cinnamon
hot pepper flakes
salt



Actually I used whole seeds  for everything except the dried ginger and salt and a piece of cinnamon, then ground them in my spice grinder.  I rubbed the whole chicken all over with the spice rub and even sprinkled some in the cavity.

Then I trussed it up with twine and put it on the spit and roasted it for about 2 hours with the lid closed.

Ready to roast

 It was a fair size roasting chicken so it took 2 hours but a smaller fryer would probably take just over an hour, but if you are unsure just stick a fork in the leg joint and if the juices are clear it is ready.  When it was cooked I let it rest for about 10 minutes while I got the rest of the meal ready and carved it up.

We had this with some wonderful local new potatoes a salad made with tomatoes, cucumber red onion and fresh herbs tossed with olive oil and lemon juice, as well as a green salad.

Finally Summer appeared to be here, but unfortunately it disappeared the next day.