This is the perfect Sunday meal, or, well, any night meal if you brine your chicken the day before and get home at a decent hour. You can also pre-boil the potatoes the night before, and fork them over right after. Then all you need to do is roast them with the chicken after getting home the next night.
I guess what I am saying is that you can have a lovely warm meal any time you want, but you may need some preplanning. The rosemary and lemon makes the whole house smell like a garden. Who wouldn’t want that after a long day at work?
This dish is savory and moist. The olive oil makes the potatoes crispy. The chicken is infused with lemon and rosemary. The chicken is brined, and that keeps things really juicy and tender.
Give this baby a whirl. We are making it again for dinner guests Saturday…and yes, we will be doubling the recipe.
Lemon Rosemary Chicken with Caramelized Shallots and Forked-Over Herb Potatoes
Ingredients:
Chicken
Brining solution of cold water and 1/2 cup salt, dissolved
1 bone in chicken with skin, cut into parts
1 lemon (Meyer lemons preferred) sliced into eight 1/4-inch rounds
1/2 pound shallots, peeled, cut into halves and quarters, depending on sizes
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces rosemary sprigs (about 2 large or 4 small bunches), divided
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Marinade
1 Tbsp. parsley
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I like using Meyer lemons with the regular ones if in season)
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup olive oil
Potatoes
3 pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes (1 1/2’–2′-diameter), peeled (cut large ones in half or quarters)
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt plus more
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. ground garlic
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Directions:
The night before-or morning of-soak the chicken pieces in a vat full of cold water and 1/2 cup salt dissolved. Prick the chicken with fork tines before submerging. Store in the refrigerator until ready to prep. Rinse well and pat dry, and loosen skin before continuing.
Preheat oven to 375°. Line a large roasting pan with 8 or so of rosemary sprigs, lining the bottom well. Place chicken pieces on top.
Whisk 1/2 cup oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper and honey in a small bowl to blend. Using a basting brush, brush the marinade under skin of each chicken.
Place shallots around and under chickens; sprinkle the chopped garlic over and around as well. Drizzle remaining lemon mixture all over outside of chickens, shallots and garlic. Arrange lemon rounds on top of each chicken. Arrange a handful more of rosemary sprigs along the top of the chicken. Drizzle rosemary and lemon rounds with remaining 2 Tbsp. oil.
Roast chickens, basting frequently with pan juices, for 45 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 425° and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165° and skin is deep golden and crispy, about 10 minutes longer
Spoon pan juices over chickens, shallots, and lemon slices and serve in roasting pan.
Potatoes:
Preheat oven to 425°.
Cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer potatoes to a rimmed baking sheet. When cool enough to handle, firmly scrape the tines of a fork up and down potatoes, creating a rough, grooved surface.
Pour oil onto another rimmed baking sheet or rectangular Pyrex pan; bake (to heat oil) for 5 minutes. Add potatoes; turn to coat. Season with 1 tablespoon salt, fresh ground pepper, parsley, garlic powder and thyme. Toss to coat again. Roast, turning 3 times during cooking and occasionally basting with oil, until browned and tender, 60–70 minutes.
If roasting the two dishes together in oven, which I did, I had the oven temp at 375˚ for the 45 minutes for the chicken, then moving the temp up at 425˚, which is what the potatoes need. I put the oven on convection to move the air around for even cooking. The chicken will get done a little ahead of your potatoes. But that will allow you to keep the potatoes in the oven at the temperature of 425˚ for final browning while the chicken is resting.
adapted from https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/forked-oven-roasted-potatoes and
Flora is an award-winning creative director in Chicago turned food and lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. She is also author to the popular BEE NATIVE! gardening book series and various children's books that celebrate the wonder and hard work of bees and butterflies. Her blog and social spaces inspire thousands to create, learn, cook, grow, and craft, making their world lovelier one pixel/petal/seed/bite/stitch/brushstroke at a time. Follow her on all the social spaces, YouTube, and Amazon, and get creative!
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