My sister's been away, she's only home for 2 days and wants to squeeze in a visit with us so I need to make something tasty in very little time with what I have on hand. The menu for this evening is oven roasted chicken with roasted veggies, green salad and warm biscuits. I got this...
See? Beautiful.
Here is what I did:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
Slice a med-lrg carrot into long spears and thinly slice a large onion. Layer these into a roasting pan.
Combine in a small bowl:
1 Tbsp salts (I used a combo of smoked salt and herbamare (for less sodium substitute some or all for Ms Dash or similar)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp granulated or powdered garlic (or use fresh, minced or crushed)
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp paprika with an optional dash of smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cumin powder
Retain about 1/4-1/3 of this herbal mix for the veggies.
Stir the majority of it into a small container with:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1Tbsp soya sauce/tamari/Bragg's
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
Rub this all over the chicken and place breast down over the chopped carrots and onions.
Place uncovered pan into hot oven for 30 mins, while that's cooking:
Peel and chop any combo of root veggies you wish (I used potato, carrot, sweet potato, turnip, thinly sliced onion)
Drizzle with olive oil and the remainder of the herb mix, toss to coat.
Place in a single layer on parchment lined baking sheets. For the fussy eaters in my family I have added mushrooms and fennel to only one tray.
At 30 mins reduce heat to 350 and slide the baking sheets with the veg onto the lower rack to bake for an additional hour.
Now there was time to tidy up, set the table, make a salad and fix my hair. I lie, it's my sister. I left my hair a mess and used that time to tidy the livingroom and hallway, she's more likely to notice that than the state of me, ha.
In the last 20 mins I made up the biscuits using a recipe from The Joy Of Cooking (best book ever, has a recipe for squirrel, not that I'd eat such a thing but still, thorough).
The veg and meat come out together and you've got enough time for the biscuits to cook and the chicken to rest while you arrange the table and plate a few things.
Not one complaint, I'm pleased to say that everybody was happy with this dinner. The bones are in the crockpot over night for broth and I am happy to have pulled that off in record time, whew!
