Recipe #10 - Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Here is a yay!! We'll be trying this one again, sometime! Here is the original recipe.

Ingredients:
*1 (3 to 3.5 lb) fresh whole chicken, thawed and giblets removed
*3 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
*1 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp ground black pepper
*1/2 tsp garlic powder
*1 tsp dried basil leaves
*6 to 8 small red potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
*4 ribs celery, cut diagonally into 1 inch slices
*3 medium carrots, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
*1 med onion, cut into 1/2 wedges

**Notes - the smallest chicken I could find at my grocery store was about 4 1/4 lbs. This seemed to work just fine with the other amounts of ingredients shown. As I was getting everything out, I realized my basil leaves jar was empty. :( I ended up using Italian Seasoning. I left the celery out of the veggie mix. Also, I don't think mine had giblets. I actually have no idea. I expected to find them in a nice little bag in the chicken's inside, kind of like with turkeys. I stuck my hand in there (nearly gagged...) and found nothing. I even made Rusty double check. Doing this once a year for Thanksgiving nearly convinces me to become a vegetarian. It's the worst thing about this recipe. Anyway, sorry. I got off topic. And I'm sure I already turned you off to the recipe. :)

Preheat oven to 375*. (I actually have a Roast setting on my oven, and I used it. I have no idea what kind of a difference it made. HA!) Find a glass casserole dish large enough for your chicken - coat it with non stick cooking spray (the dish! not the chicken!). Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Place the chicken breast side up in the greased casserole dish. Whisk together the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil in a small bowl. Reserve 1.5 tablespoons of the mixture for later. Using only half of the remaining mixture, coat the chicken thoroughly. Roast for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is roasting, get a larger 13x9 casserole dish and coat it with non stick cooking spray; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the vegetables. Toss them with the 1.5 tablespoons of reserved olive oil mixture until evenly coated. Spread the coated vegetables into the greased casserole dish. Cover with foil.

Once the chicken has roasted for 30 minutes, remove it from the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 450*. While the oven is heating, coat the chicken with the remaining olive oil mixture. Place both dishes in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes. Remove foil from vegetables. Roast for 15 minutes more, until the chicken is 170* and veggies are tender. Allow chicken to sit for 10 minutes before carving.

Variations:
*The original recipe suggests using 4 to 6 bone in chicken breast halves in place of a whole chicken. I even wonder about using boneless chicken and what difference it might make?

*Next time, I'm going to use different spices and different veggies, just for a twist on the recipe. I also will consider making a small foil tent to cover the top of the chicken. The skin cooked really quickly and was quite crisp.

TTFN!