Simply Roasted – You Can Do It, We Can Help

One of the easiest and tastiest ways to prepare any food is roasting it.  But too often people are afraid of this method of cooking.  It may well be because we have all attended dinners or banquets where we were served the proverbial “rubber chicken”…a dry tasteless, tough, piece of meat.  If you are suffering from a fear of roast chicken, your Two Chums are here to help with that 🙂Today we aren’t going to talk about roasting a whole chicken (we’ll cover that at another time) but instead let’s look at roasting individual pieces of chicken.  The benefit of doing it this way is that you can cook the exact pieces you or your family enjoys.  There are after all only two breast pieces to a chicken, and two thighs, so if your family all prefers breasts or they like the thighs you can make  as many of those pieces as you need to give them what they really like.

What we are going to show you is very simple basic roasting technique that virtually anyone can do and end up with a moist tasty meal.  My mother made roasted chicken breasts and baked potatoes about once a week….more than any other meal except maybe her meatloaf.  I’ve eaten this dinner a lot over the years and enjoy it every time.   There is nothing fancy or pretentious about it…it is just plain good!  We hope you will try it and enjoy it too.  Let us know what you think after you’ve given it a try.  I promise, you’ll never worry about eating or serving “rubber chicken” again 🙂

Oven Roasted Chicken

Start by buying the pieces of chicken your family most enjoys.  Just be sure it does still have the bone attached to the meat and that the skin is still on.  In other words DON’T buy packages of boneless OR skinless breasts, or boneless/skinless thighs or legs.  The reason for that is two fold.  First of all the bone helps in the even cooking of the meat.  As the bone heats up it actually starts cooking the meat from the inside out. Generally this aids in more even cooking and means that the meat will remain far more moist during the cooking process.   Secondly, leaving the skin on the meat both acts as a protector and  an automatic baster.  As the skin cooks it releases it’s fat and this bastes the chicken and keeps it moist.

Lay the chicken in a shallow baking dish, skin side up.  Pat the skin dry with paper towels.   Next give it a good liberal sprinkling of both kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Now place the baking dish of chicken pieces in a preheated 375 degree oven for approximately 40-50 minutes for breasts and about 30-40 minutes for thighs.   When the skin is crisp and golden brown and the meat is firm to the touch, the chicken is done.  That’s it…it is just that simple.

Now the beauty of this meal is that all of it goes into the oven and it requires very little prep.  The potatoes, if they are average sized russet potatoes,  cook at about the same rate of time as the meat.  Scrub the potatoes under running water and then dry thoroughly.  Next rub the skins well with softened butter, and then sprinkle them liberally with kosher salt.  Place them in a shallow baking dish or a baking sheet that is large enough so they aren’t touching each other.  Prep your potatoes and put them in the preheated 375 oven while you are getting the chicken ready, to give the potatoes a head start.

Next are the roasted vegetables.  The trick here is to use a good variety.  I like to use onions cut into chunks and then separate the pieces.  Cut into large chunks red, yellow and green peppers.  Eggplant sliced into about 1/4 inch slices.  Zucchini and any other kind of squash you like also cut into 1/4 inch slices.  You could also use broccoli or cauliflower, cutting them into florets as well.  Lay all the vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast them in a 375 degree oven. This should take about 12-15 minutes.

If you have only one oven, roast the veggies first, they can be reheated or served at room temperature.  When they are done remove from the oven and put the potatoes in while you are prepping the chicken.

Serve the potatoes with butter, sour cream, chopped green onions, crumbled bacon , and  cheese or any other topping you like.

You can serve the chicken with your favorite sauce alongside, but the beauty of this chicken is that it is is moist and delicious just as it is.

So there it is….a simple and simply delicious, easy roasted dinner that you will be happy to serve to your family again and again…bon appetit!