Summer in the city means cold, cold, cold! Well, if you’re in Portland it does! So the other night as the rain splashed down, I thought firing up the ‘ole oven sounded down right cozy. And it was! I made roasted chicken, carrots and potatoes with olives and lemon, a favorite in our home, since I found this recipe thumbing through the pages of Real Simple this winter…or perhaps fall. Anyway, it only dirties the baking sheet that you cook it on (win!) and takes me all of about five minutes to whip it together (double win!); though it roasts for about 50 minutes in the oven. This meal is absolutely delicious – so very, very flavorful. The acidity of the lemon and strong salty taste of the olives imparts a powerful blast of flavor with every bite of the chicken and carrots. I add potatoes to mellow it all out.
Check out the original recipe if you wish; here is my adaptation (oh, and because I needed to hurry and pop this in the oven, I only took pictures of the finished product…so yeah…I’m going to show you about 8,000 pictures of this feast from pretty much every angle…ready…):
Looks delicious!?! Let’s get cooking!
Ingredients:
- 6 chicken drumsticks
- four carrots cut into two-inch pieces (halved length-wise at the thick top)
- 2-4 baby red potatoes, quartered or halved based on size (I just use however many fit onto the sheet)
- 1 small container kalamata olives (the smallest container at the olive bar – I think this is about 2/3 – 3/4 cup)
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- fine sea salt and black pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons paprika
Preparations:
- Set oven to 425 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet (although I’ve done it in a more shallow one but it was annoying), toss the chicken, carrots, potatoes, olives, bay leaves, lemon, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon salt and a few cranks from the pepper mill. Fan all the goodness out in a single layer. Generously sprinkle the chicken with paprika.
- Roast, tossing everything just once at about 25 minutes, and continue cooking another 25 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots and potatoes are tender. Mangia! Oh, and in case you missed what it looks like when it’s done:
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11 Responses to “roasted chicken, carrots and potatoes with olives and lemon”
It looks so wonderful I can almost smell it!!!
Yum. Loving your pictures.
on June 19th, 2010 at 10:35 pm #
[...] farmer’s market and fabric store. I tore the soup recipe from the pages of Real Simple, as I tend to do, but you can find the recipe here. The only modifications I made were to omit the soup pasta [...]
Heya! I just made this, heavily inspired by your story here linked from Real Simple. Great recipe adjustments! I went ahead and used a package of chicken legs instead of cutting up a chicken (come on) and added little potatoes. This turned out delicious! Really, I have no idea how to cook chicken (I tend to stick to simple pasta and veggies or takeout Indian) and this looked like I’d been doing it for years. And it tasted juicy yet crispy on the outside and well-seasoned (just dumped lots of paprika on top…even when it looked slightly like paprika-overload).
My only problem was that I lined my cookie sheet with foil…so everything kind of stuck as the juices evaporated and the food roasted onto the bottom. Did you have that problem without foil? Or did it still stick?
Thanks again for your great post
(I noticed the lemon pieces are edible too!)
Thanks for stopping by and letting me know where you came from Brandi! I used drumsticks as well (seriously, who cuts up a whole chicken? Or knows how?). Cheap and for me and my husband, the least “ick.” I love, love, love this recipe! I had no idea how to cook chicken either and I felt fancy and grown-up having cooked it the first time; now it’s a regular on the menu. I didn’t line the sheet with foil. The sheet usually has to soak overnight in order to clean it, but it’s so worth it. I’ll have to nosh on the lemon wedges next time; I usually toss them in the compost. Thanks again for stopping by!
Hi again! Yeah it was great…you gotta be brave with the lemons, but they are good. It was all good cold the next day too! Next time I want to throw in some whole garlic cloves to roast into mellow goodness. I forgot this time
Thanks for the tip about the baking sheet!
Do you have any other favorite easy go-to recipes that aren’t on your blog? I have been making this one a lot and it’s great, easy, lasts for days:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spaghetti-zucchini-walnuts-raisins-recipe-00000000035747/index.html
I add summer squash as well as zucchini for more color. Fresh grated parm helps too! Whole wheat pasta as well.
I also liked this one for quite awhile, but I don’t think the quinoa agreed with my digestion
Too bad because it is GREAT:
http://cooking-books.blogspot.com/2008/11/roasted-quinoa-with-potatoes-and-cheese.html
Oh wow! That pasta looks incredible! I love Real Simple recipes! I do have go-to recipes, but mainly ones that I’ve just made up. I’ve been thinking that I need to blog about food more; you’ve motivated me to do so! And I love autumn cooking…I really enjoy 101cookbooks.com (as well as the photography) and I also really like wholeliving.com as well. Both offer healthy, fresh, delicious recipes that mainly use in-season ingredients. I want to begin experimenting more with more interesting whole grains. I’m not a stranger to quinoa (too bad it was hard on your system!), and the other recipe you shared sounds intriguing.
on November 10th, 2010 at 10:19 pm #
[...] very inexpensive, and I’m a happy camper. In the past I shared another roasted chicken recipe and while I love that variation, the one I’m about to share is even more comforting and [...]
on January 8th, 2011 at 2:13 pm #
[...] in dressings, pasta sauces and marinades. I also sprinkle it across eggs, roasted chicken and vegetables, and when I’m feeling more ambitious, to mayonnaise and butter when making [...]
Hi, I made this last night and used apple slices and onions hunks instead of the olives and lemon. Nothing stuck to my baking sheet, but the sugar from the apples caused all the juices to burn around the carrots and potatoes and onions and apples but not the chicken. It was super good anyway. I just peeled the burn parts off. Next time no apples (even tho it made it so yummy).
I just made this tonight! I subbed the red potatoes for yams but kept everything else the same and it was so wonderful!!!!!!!!! We ate the entire pan of drumsticks, lemon, olives, yams, carrots and we are about to burst. The lemon gave it such a yummy flavor.
Thank you for a GREAT recipe.