Oven Roasted Chicken with Sweet Paprika Veggies

Lately I have been noticing that the frozen chicken breasts you can buy at the store, while economical and convenient, do not taste very good. So I thought I would compare it to a fresh whole chicken (that I also bought at the grocery store, so not THAT fresh). I have never roasted a chicken before, but this one was delicious! I think I might end up cooking one once a week because the leftovers are so convenient!

Lemon/Herb Chicken

1 whole chicken (washed and dried with "guts" removed)

3 medium-large lemons

1/2 cup olive oil

about a 1/2 cup dried or fresh herbs  (parsley, basil, oregano etc, whatever you like)

(i used dried Italian blend because that's what I had)

2 tablespoons salt 

1 tablespoon pepper

1. Heat oven to 425. Spray a baking pan (I just used a 13x9 pan) with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Squeeze the juice of two lemons into a bowl. add olive oil, herbs and salt and pepper. stir until all combined. set aside. Cut the remain lemon into quarters and set that aside as well.

3. After washing and drying the chicken, separate the skin from the flesh by putting your hand underneath and running it all the way across the breasts. 

4. rub the herb/lemon/oil mixture all over underneath the skin and then all over the entire chicken. Stuff the quartered lemons into the middle of the chicken. Tie the legs up and secure the wings to the chicken with kitchen string. 

5. Place the chicken on its side in the roasting pan. Put in the oven for 30 min. Flip the chicken to its other side and bake for another 30 min. Then flip the chicken so that the breasts are facing up and roast for 15 minutes. Flip the chicken over so the breasts are down and roast for 15 minutes again. All this flipping ensures all the sides get equally brown and delicious (at least that is what my thought process was, and it seemed to work great) Remove from pan and let rest for 15 more minutes before carving. Be sure to cut the string off throw it away.

I asked David what he wanted for a side dish to go with this chicken and he told me nothing starchy or heavy because he wanted to be able to consume as much chicken as possible and those starches take up too much space. So after looking around in my fridge, I came up with this. It was good, so good.  This will definitely be made over and over again this summer.

Sweet Paprika Veggies

Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 yellow or green squash sliced in circles

1 cup chopped broccoli

1/2 carton of sliced mushrooms

2 medium carrots chopped in small pieces

handful of fresh cilantro finely chopped

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

couple dashes of garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a deep skillet, pour enough olive oil in to cover the bottom. Place on medium heat for a couple minutes. Add the chopped onion and allow to brown and caramelize (it takes about 10-15 minutes). Cover and stir occasionally.

2. Once it just begins to brown add the rest of the veggies. Stir. Add a drizzle more olive oil if it seems too dry to cook evenly. 

3. Add cilantro, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder and about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. cook until veggies are soft (particularly the carrots). You can taste it here to see if you like more salt and pepper. 

4. Serve with that beautiful chicken  you just made. I think these would also be good sprinkled with the seasons and cooked on an outdoor grill.