Roasted Chicken

I made a little bit of a bigger dinner than I usually do on a Friday night. I made Roasted chicken, roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes. The great part about that meal is that it looks like it might have taken longer to make than it actually did. The chicken takes about 10 minutes to prep and then it takes care of itself once you put it in the oven. I think the most time consuming part was the mashed potatoes which took about 5 minutes to mash once they were done boiling. So, here it is, a quick and easy Friday night meal!

Roasted Chicken
(Jen's recipe)

2 split chicken breasts
1 lemon
2 sprigs of rosemary
Extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and garlic powder

I like to have everything in little bowls before I make my chicken so I am not running around trying to find my ingredients with chicken hands! I don't have exact measurements for the salt,pepper, and garlic powder mixture. I usually just eyeball it, but I think it is about 1:1:1. To prepare the chicken, I cut the skin from one side of the breast and open it like a book (leaving one side of skin still attached.) First, I coat the chicken in olive oil. Next, I liberally sprinkle the salt mixture over the whole breast (even the bottom). I have found that with the split breast you need more seasoning than you might think. Then I place lemon slices and rosemary sprigs on the chicken. The last thing you do is pull the skin over the lemon and rosemary. I pour the rest of the olive oil over the chicken and that crisps up the skin. More than anything that just makes for a nicer presentation. Put the chicken in a 425° oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165°.

Roasted Asparagus
(Jen's "recipe")

This is not really a recipe but a method. You can do this with any vegetable. I really like roasted cauliflower, carrots, beets, cherry tomatoes, red peppers. On a foil lined baking sheet, coat your asparagus in olive oil. Then season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. It's okay if veggies look a little bit charred on the ends.

Mashed Potatoes
(Jen's recipe)

3 organic russet potatoes
2% organic milk
sour cream
fresh ground sea salt and pepper

Boil potatoes until they are tender. Drain water and place potatoes back in the pot. Pour enough milk so that the potatoes mash easily. Once they are mashed I add salt and pepper to taste and two heaping spoonfuls of sour cream.

Bon Appetit!
Jen