Sweetie Pie

Roasted Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

I love it when I find a recipe that we all like which doesn't include any dairy (the kid will eat anything with cheese on it).  It's even better if it's easy, doesn't dirty too many dishes and includes some kind of vegetable.  This one does all of this and more. 
It works well with chicken thighs, which I like because they're cheaper and the dark meat is more flavorful.  It uses cherry tomatoes which are available, delicious and not too pricey year round.  This recipe is simple and puts you well on your way to a complete dinner.  Just add baked potatoes and a salad. 

For this recipe you will need:

1 pint cherry tomatoes

4-6 chicken thighs or whatever cut you like

1 small onion

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon oregano

vinegar

oil

salt and pepper

One large oven proof skillet or dutch oven

If you're using frozen chicken, make sure it's defrosted before you get started. One other thing to do before you get started is to peel the cherry tomatoes.  I know this seems a little ridiculous and you can certainly skip it if you want, but hear me out. 

 
Peeling the tomatoes allows them to release their juices to flavor the chicken.  Instead of washing the tomatoes, put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them.  Then pull them out and put them in another bowl and add cold water and ice cubes.  This will make the skins split.  You can then peel them with your fingers, use a fingernail to get it started if you need to.  Don't worry about it if you can't get it all off - it's not imperative to spend all afternoon painstakingly scraping tiny tomatoes.  Some will peel easily and some hardly peel at all, just do what you can quickly and move on.

Next, preheat the oven to 400.  I used a cast iron skillet for this recipe and it worked really well, but you could use any oven proof pan.  Put the skillet on a burner and turn it on medium high to heat it up.  Sprinkle your chicken with salt and pepper.   When the pan is screaming hot, add about a tablespoon of oil to the pan, swirl it around, throw in the chicken and stand back - it will sizzle and pop.  If you're using chicken with the skin on, there's no need to add the oil, just place the peices skin side down.  Leave the chicken alone for at least five minutes.  Don't stir it around or anything, just let it get golden brown all by itself. 
While it's browning, chop up the onion, mince or chop the garlic and oregano and add this to the tomatoes.  Mix the veggies with salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 tablespoon oil and stir it up.  Now, check the chicken to see if it's brown.  It should release from the pan if it is, and flip it over.  It should go more quickly on the second side. 
Add the tomato mixture right into the pan with the chicken and transfer it to the hot oven.  It will depend on the thickness of the chicken pieces you use, but this will need to cook for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.  Another thing I like about chicken thighs is that you can not overcook them - they never dry out.  So leave them in there until you're ready to eat and the potatoes are done. 

You'll be so pleased with the beautiful dinner you've made when you pull this out of the oven and serve it.  The onions melt into a lovely sauce, the tomatoes turn sweet from roasting and it looks nice too. 

 

 

 

The Whole Bird

I got a free chicken at Earth Fare today, and this is what I did with it:

Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken

1 lemon

1 small onion

2 or 3 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

oil

This is all you need!  I also used celery and rosemary because I had some, but it's not necessary.  If you've never cooked a whole bird, don't be scared.

First, preheat the oven to 450.  Then get everything ready.  Get the chicken out of the refrigerator, cut the lemon into quarters or slices, cut the onion into chunks, and put plenty of salt and pepper in a bowl with some olive oil.  Get out your pan:  I'm using a cast iron skillet; you could also use a roasting pan or even a cookie sheet (you might want to line it with foil for easier cleanup).  Now you have everything all set before you get your hands into the raw chicken. 

Unwrap the bird and put it either in a bowl or straight on your pan.  The idea here is to season the chicken by rubbing it with the salt, pepper, oil, lemons etc...  If you're squeamish just rub salt, pepper, and oil all over the chicken, squeeze the lemon all over it, then stuff everything else inside and you're done.  If you don't mind getting up close and personal with your dinner, use your hand to separate the skin from the meat and slide some seasonings under the skin.  I put lemon slices, sprigs of rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic under the skin on the top and bottom.  The rest of the lemon was squeezed over the outside along with salt, pepper and oil and rubbed in.  I put the chopped up onion, squeezed lemon, celery, more rosemary and garlic inside the cavity of the bird.  Don't forget to pull the gizzards out of the cavity first ( although I know from experience that it won't really hurt anything if you do). 

Put the chicken in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn it down to 350 degrees until it's done.  Most birds are around 3 1/2 pounds and will need to roast for 1 hour and 20-30 minutes total.  If you have a bigger chicken add 20 minutes per pound to the time.  The method of starting the oven at a high heat and then turning it down to finish cooking ensures that the finished bird will be nice and juicy.  The high temperature makes the skin get crispy and seals in the juices.   If you check on it and see that the top is looking really brown, cover the bird loosely with a piece of foil while it finishes.  You can be sure the meat is done when you use a thermometer and it reaches an internal temperature of 165.  Otherwise you can look at the juices.  When the juices run clear or buttery yellow, it's done.  If you see rosy colored juice, it's not done.  Leave the chicken under it's foil for at least 10 minutes before you slice it.  This allows the juice to settle in so it won't all run out when you cut into it. 

We had this yummy roasted chicken with our free mashed potatoes and free carrots.