Burnt Toast: Mediterranean Roasted Chicken

Ok so I had requests for chicken. Here is a very flexible chicken dinner that is filling, healthy, and easy to make. If you are worried about the amount of leftovers you might have by using a whole chicken, you can easily use instead boneless chicken breasts. Try to use skin-on thick kind. It will do better in the oven. Oh and if you hate olives (or just this type), it won't hurt anything to omit them or substitute them for a different kind.

Tools:

Roasting pan (glass or metal is fine or you can use disposable foil ones. Really though its more economical to invest in a roasting pan!)
Mixing Bowl
2qt or larger pot
Aluminum foil
Sharp knife
Mixing tool


Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (olive is best)

2 lemons

4 cloves garlic (more if you like it)

8-10 fresh rosemary sprigs (you can use dried spice if you want)

salt and pepper

Whole chicken rinsed well and patted dry

1 1/2 lbs new potatoes

1 cup kalamata olives

1 onion

package baby carrots

1 box rice or couscous (instant is fine!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll lemons on a flat surface with the palm of your hand. This loosens up the meat of the fruit and squeezes it to make it easier to juice. Slice one lemon in half and squeeze both halves to drain juice into bowl. Throw away unused lemon and seeds. Stir in oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Open your chicken, wash, and pat dry. Make sure to remove the extras baggy from inside of the bird. If you are into making giblet gravies or soup stocks these can be bagged and stored in the freezer. For those who have kitties, chop these bits up raw and serve to kitties. This is a tasty and very healthy treat for cats. Dogs sometimes enjoy it too.

Place the cleaned chicken breast up in the roasting pan. Now the gross part. Using the knife, cut a small slit in the skin between the neck of the chicken and the breast. We are going to prepare the chicken to be seasoned so that the seasoning mix sits above the meat and beneath the skin. To do this we will do what is called a blunt dissection. Its not hard and its not even that gross. Using your hand, slide it around under the skin to separate it from the meat around the breast and legs. When you have made a good pocket, put about 2/3 of the oil mix inside. Using your hand, smooth it around so that it covers most of the meat evenly. Ok, gross part over! Pull the skin back up to the neck and if you want you can secure it there with a toothpick or two.

Quarter the potatoes and chop the onion. Put these in the roasting pan around the chicken. Open your package of carrots and put a few handfuls of these into the pan as well. Toss in the olives (you can buy pitted ones if you don't want to pit them yourself) Put the rest of the oil mix over the veggies and mix them up with it. I like to add a bit more oil at this point to the vegetables or if you prefer you can give them a good spray down with a cooking spray like PAM.

Half the other lemon and stuff the cavity of the chicken with these.

Put the pan into the oven on the center rack and cook until juices run clear (about 1 hour). Check every so often and mix the veggies around so they cook even.

Cook rice or couscous by the directions on the package.

When the chicken is done set it out to rest for a few min. This lets the juices settle back into the meat before carving.

Serve up and enjoy! This goes great with a nice green salad.
Suggested wine: Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache, or Zinfandel