This roast chicken has a zippy apricot and habanero glaze with thyme and ginger, for the perfect balance of sweet, savory, and a lil' spicy.
Mix together all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Start by preparing the apricot and onion bed. Mix together the apricot habanero jam, olive oil, thyme, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Place the apricot halves and sliced onion in a roasting pan and toss with the jam mixture until coated. Spread the onion slices out so that they make a layer on the bottom of the pan and arrange the apricot halves around the edge of the pan.
Place the chicken in the center of the pan and generously rub the outside and inside of the chicken with the Apricot Habanero Glaze, gently edging your hands underneath the skin of the chicken breast to get the mixture underneath the skin as well.
Stuff the cavity with the sprig of rosemary and tie the legs together using a piece of cooking twine. Pour the 2 cups of water into the pan around the chicken. Tent the pan with tin foil, ensuring that it is secured and closed on all four sides, but poke a small 1 inch hole in it to allow excess steam to escape. Make sure the tent does not touch the actual skin of the bird (otherwise it will cook onto it and tear the skin off when you remove the foil). This step is VERY important, because if you do not tent the bird with tin foil, it will brown too quickly because of the high sugar content of the glaze, and while the inside of the bird will still be moist and tasty, the outside will look *quite* crispy.
Place the pan in the oven on the lowest rack and roast for about 1 hour, basting halfway through. At the 40-minute mark, remove the tin foil, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and place the chicken back in the oven to get golden brown until the thigh joint is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit, another 15 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and allow the juices to cool for 15 minutes before serving. This way, the bird retains more moisture, whereas if you carve the bird right away the juices will drain out of the meat more rapidly. Enjoy!