One Pan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables - in 30 minutes!

I was inspired to make a one pan chicken and vegetables dinner after having most of the ingeredients at home and seeing this recipe on PBS's saturday cooking lineup.

It really is so simple but as usual I added my own twist(s) on the original recipe.

Here's my version and below is the site where you can find the videos and recipes from The Test Kitchen Show.

Normally I brine my chicken, so even though it's a 24 hour process it really just involves dissolving some salt, sugar into water, adding in a bit of acidity (lemon/drop of vinegar) and then some herbs and spices, or just the basics of pepper corns and a sliced head of garlic.

This is done the day before and it stays in the fridge on it's own until you're ready to use it, so it's totally hassle free.

When ready to prepare the dish you just want your chicken to come to room temp so I removed it from the water and let it sit an hour, in this time I also chopped the chicken as the recipe mentions into 8 pieces, 2 drum sticks, 2 upper thighs, and each breast (on the bone) into 2 pieces by slicing in half horizontally.

The wings, and spine were removed and they can go into another recipe or stock making.

I sprinkled the chicken with some Worcestershire sauce and let it sit while preparing the veg.

In this hour you can also chop the veggies:

- Carrots, sliced into 2 inch pieces if they're medium to small carrots or chopped into 2 inch pieces and then split down the middle.

- Remove brussel sprout bottoms and slice down the middle of each one to create nice halves.

-  2-3 shallots, sliced in half down the centre.

- Red potatoes, cut into cubes.

Toss all the veggies with some olive oil, salt, black pepper and a sprinkling of sugar (for browning, perhaps)

Keep the brussel sprouts in the middle of the pan and mix and lay out the other veg around the edges.  I scattered in some whole garlic cloves, peel on, throughout.

Add chicken breasts to the middle of the pan, laying over the brussel sprouts, lay the other pieces on the sides.  Brush the chicken with butter and herbs (I just used butter)

Now it all bakes on 475 F for 30-40 minutes and you've left with a one pan delicious spread of roasted chicken and vegetables all cooked beautifully.

Perfect comfort food for busy weekdays!

http://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/One-Pan-Roast-Chicken-with-Root-Vegetables/32806/?incode=M00KSCR00

Pomegranate Chicken

Roasted Pomegranate Flattened Chicken:

1 Chicken
Water
4 Tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 garlic bulb (with peel, slice horizontally)
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp black pepper corns

Garnish:
Pomegranate seeds
Toasted slivered almonds (Toast in a dry pan on medium high moving around as needed so they don't burn, as soon as they turn golden remove and place on a cool flat plate then set aside)

Add all above ingredients to a pot (something that your chicken will fit in and this vessel fits in your fridge)
Mix until salt dissolves, add chicken to the "Brine" and let it soak in the fridge overnight or up to 2 days.

Pomegranate marinade:  Blend the following...

1 tbsp Pomegranate molasses
Pomegranate juice (pom, or slice a pomegranate in half horizontally and squeeze it like a lemon until you get about 1/4 cup of juice  - you can substitute with orange juice)
Splash Worcestershire sauce
Salt
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp jam (I used mixed berries - 4 berry)

When ready to roast remove chicken from fridge 2 hours in advance, remove from brine and add to roasting pan allowing it to come to room temperature on the counter.  Let it sit breast down and pour the marinade into the bottom of the pan.

Preheat over to 425 F

 I also flattened the chicken by cutting out the spine with a shark scissors. At this point remove from marinade and place on a pan (I lined it with foil for easy clean-up  or casserole. Dot the top of the chicken with about 1 tbsp butter (you can place it under the skin if you wish)

Roast for 30 minutes then lower the heat to 400 and continue to roast, you could use convection if you have that setting or convection roast which is what I used.

If you'd like to baste your chicken with a thicker marinade/glaze you can mix up some pom molasses, pom juice and salt until it's the consistency of a glaze and brush it over the top of the chicken.

When your chicken is done remove and sprinkle with fresh pomegranate seeds and slivered toasted almonds.

Enjoy!

Chicken pot pie

What do you do when you have a whole chicken and lots of peas? Well I was in the mood for chicken pot pie!

When I realized I didn't have any butter at home (from all the baking over the weekend) so I had to run to the store to get some. As soon as I set foot outside I realized "chicken pot pie" was a bad idea. It is one of the hottest days of the summer so far!

The chicken was already roasted the night before (lots of salt and lemon for a flavourful tender chicken) took all the meat off the bones and reserved the liquids from the pan in the same container for the meat to soak it up in the fridge, yum!

With fresh peas I shelled them and blanched for a few moments (as soon as they float) I threw them into an ice bath and then put them in the fridge for the next day.

All the vegetables like carrots, celery, onion, small chunks of potato and a few cloves of garlic got boiled in a stock until tender then it was time to make the roux... butter and flour in the pot and milk added to that, some black pepper and a bit of salt in the end.

Veggies and chicken got layered in the casserole, cream sauce was poured over and the oven was preheating on 375-400.

The pastry was made before hand (as soon as I got home with my butter!)

Chopped butter into small cubes and worked it into the flour then some cold milk brought it all together and the dough was shaped into a disk and refrigerated.

At this point it was ready for use so I rolled it out and draped it over the casserole/pan, poked a few holes in it and did an egg wash over.

Baked until it was bubbly and the crust was flaky and browned.

Rotisserie chicken

The Hamilton Beach double decker toaster oven with rotisserie makes awesome chicken!

Rotisserie chicken, a photo by Adventuress Heart on Flickr.