No-Fail Roast Chicken with Lemon & Garlic

 

Ingredients:

3-1/2 to 4 lb chicken
1 lemon
1 head of garlic
1/2 stick of butter or 1/4 cup of olive oil
salt & ground pepper

1.  Arrange a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 425 degrees.  Cut 1 lemon in half cross-wise and remove visible seeds. 

2.  Cut 1 head of garlic in half cross-wise. 

3.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter in microwave in a small bowl. 

4.  Place whole chicken on a cutting board and pat with paper towels to get as dry as possible. 

5. With chicken breast facing up and legs pointing toward you, use a sharp knife to slice through loose area of skin connecting the leg and breast, making about a 3"-long incision. Continue cutting downward until you hit the joint that connects the thigh to the body, then stop (once you get through the skin, there’s not much there; if you are cutting through flesh, you’re too close to the breast). This exposes the leg joint, making it easy to tell if chicken is cooked. Repeat on second side.

6.  Season surface of the chicken and inside the cavity with salt & pepper. 

7.  Transfer the chicken, breast-side up, into a skillet and arrange lemon and garlic, cut-side down around the chicken. 

8. Drizzle chicken with melted butter and transfer to oven.

9. Roast until chicken is nicely browned and cooked through, checking for doneness after 45 minutes. To check, carefully remove skillet from oven (the handle is hot!), poke a knife into leg joints, and pierce the meat. If juices run clear, the chicken is done. If you see a rosy pink color, it needs more time. Continue to roast, checking every 5 minutes, until juices run clear. 

10. Let chicken rest in skillet at least 15 minutes before carving—this will help the juices in the meat to settle.  Transfer chicken to a platter. Pour all of the buttery pan juices over top of the meat and serve with roasted lemon and garlic alongside. 

Braised Chicken Thighs & Greens

A comforting one-pot, stove-top meal, chicken thighs are browned, then simmered with sturdy greens.  Serve with crusty bread to enjoy the brothy braise. 

Ingredients

1-1/2 lbs bone-in chicken thighs
kosher salt & black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 to 2 bunches of greens, such as kale or swiss chard, roughly chopped 
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup of green olives, pitted, chopped
2 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped



1. Season chicken thighs well with salt and pepper. In a large heavy-bottomed skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook undisturbed until nicely browned, about 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and brown the other side, about 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

2. Return the pan to medium-low heat. Add red onion, and cook until it begins to soften, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds more.

3. Add chopped greens to the pan and stir, tossing to coat. It may seem like a lot of greens, but they will cook down. Add the chicken thighs and any juices that have accumulated back to the pan and lay them on top of the greens. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to come up to the chicken about halfway. Bring the chicken to a gentle simmer. Partly cover and allow the chicken to finish cooking through, about 20 minutes more.

4. Stir in olives and raisins and cook uncovered until they are warmed through, and the raisins are nicely plumped, about 1 minute more. Garnish with parsley and serve.

One-Pan Chicken with Kale and Sweet Potatoes

Serves 3-4

This recipe requires two packs of our bone-in chicken breast and will not work with just one pack - the vegetables will burn.  But you can scale up and substitute one of our 8-piece whole chicken grill packs.

1/4 cup evoo
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
salt and pepper
8 ounces curly kale, stemmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon paprika
4 bone-in split chicken breasts, halved crosswise

1.  Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.  Whisk oil, garlic, lemon zest, thyme, pinch of salt and pepper, together in a small bowl. 

2.  Vigorously squeeze and massage kale with hands in a large bowl until wilted, about 1 minute.  Arrange kale in a pile in center of rimmed baking sheet.

3.  Toss sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of oil mixture and toss to coat.  Arrange in a singe layer around edges of sheet.  Whisk paprika into remaining oil mixture and toss with chicken.  Place chicken, skin-side up, on top of kale in the center of the sheet. 

4.  Transfer sheet to oven and roast until chicken registers 165 degrees, 25 to 35 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through roasting.  Transfer chicken to a platter and tent with foil for 5-10 minutes. 

5.  Toss vegetables with any accumulated pan juices and season with salt & pepper.