Spicy mustard, honey and lemon

Picantones are nothing more than young chickens that weigh around half a kilo and have tender, fat-free meat, although a bit tasteless for my taste. For this reason, when I prepare them, I try to accompany it with very aromatic ingredients so that they are well impregnated with their flavors.

I usually prepare them in the oven, since they take very little time to cook and are ideal for both a daily dinner and a day of celebration, since, when served whole, they look very beautiful presented on the plate.

Today I used my coastal blue cocotte to cook them, this time without a lid, so that they acquire a beautiful color resulting from the dressing I have prepared with honey, lemon and mustard. You can't imagine how good my kitchen smelled while they were in the oven!

In the photo, Le Creuset round cocotte , and Pallarès iron knife

Ingredients (for 2 people)

2 picantones
1 lemon
2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons mustard
a few sprigs of rosemary
2 apples
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt
ground black pepper
water

Elaboration

1. Take the picantones out of the refrigerator 2 hours before starting to cook and prepare a dressing with the juice of half a lemon, honey, mustard, a pinch of salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil. Emulsify well and rub the picantones with this mixture, inside and out. Reserve some dressing.
2. Insert ¼ of lemon and the rosemary branches into the cavity of the picantón.
3. Put the picantones in a cocotte , along with the two whole apples, the unpeeled garlic cloves, ¼ of lemon and a splash of water. Cover the cocotte and let everything rest for 2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 200º, heat up and down. When it reaches the temperature, put the cocotte without the lid and lower the temperature to 180º.
5. Let the picantones bake for approximately 45 minutes until they acquire a nice golden color. Halfway through cooking, spread the pincantones with the dressing that you reserved at the beginning. Use a kitchen brush to do it.
6. When the picantones are ready, take them out of the oven. Arrange them on a plate and reduce the juice that has remained in the cocotte for a few minutes so that the flavors concentrate well.