Herb Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.
                                                                                                  ~ Harriet Van Horne


Grandma could do miracles with a chicken and you can too!

It's so easy and almost foolproof. Really the trick is not to necessarily follow a recipe to the letter, but to get good quality ingredients--the fresher the better--then use your imagination. The other trick is to use your time and resources wisely, which Grandma always did. Here's how:

This Herb Roasted Chicken with Vegetables recipe is probably the most versatile because leftovers can be used in other recipes like chicken soup, chicken pot pie or chicken salad. Since you're heating up the oven anyway, you might as well make more than one all at once and then store them in the fridge or freezer to use in these recipes later. How convenient! Try a different combination of ingredients for each one, if you want to change the flavors.  Here are the basic recipes for chicken and accompanying vegetables:

Herb Roasted Chicken

3-4lb whole chicken
Something to stuff inside the chicken*
2-3 Tbsp canola or olive oil (your preference)
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp pepper (can be freshly ground, if you like & as much as you like)
1-2 Tbsp fresh herbs, chopped (fresh sage, rosemary & thyme work best)

*try apple slices, onion, lemons, onions, garlic cloves (we cut an entire garlic head/bulb in half--one half to stuff and one to rub the outside of the chicken with), carrots, fresh herbs like rosemary sprigs. etc.) ~ let your imagination run wild! 

Preheat oven to 400F.  Wash and pat chicken dry, then fill cavity of bird with whatever you desire--a halved lemon, full cloves of garlic, and coarsely chopped onion (and whatever else you want to throw in—apples are surprisingly good too!). Tie legs if necessary then rub the outside with the oil  until thoroughly coated and season generously with chopped herbs, salt and pepper. Bake in preheated oven (with vegetables recipe below) for an hour or until internal temp reads 160F. Enjoy!

 

Vegetables

2 Tbl olive oil
6 small carrots, scrubbed, not peeled
4 medium parsnips, scrubbed, not peeled
10 small Yukon Gold potatoes, not peeled but halved (try sweet potatoes for a change up!)
1 whole head garlic, halved
1 sprig rosemary

½ cup chicken broth

In large bowl combine carrots (cut in 1 inch pieces), parsnips (cut in ½ inch pieces) , potatoes, onions, garlic half, rosemary (leaves only), salt, pepper, and olive oil. Toss together well and place in baking dish with your chicken, pour ½ cup chicken broth and cook in 400F oven for 45 minutes. Check often and add additional broth if necessary. 4 servings 

When dinner is over, save the leftovers (chicken and vegetables) for tomorrow's recipe...chicken pot pies with flaky crust.