Roast Chicken & Vegetables

Last night I cooked for a dinner party for one of my friend's birthdays. We were debating what the perfect menu would be knowing that we had a few gluten-free guests as well as a blizzard going on that makes comfort food seem like a must!

As we explored Whole Foods (which is possibly my favorite activity!) we thought it would be fun to make some roast chickens with seasonal vegetables. I had wanted to make roast chickens for awhile now as the presentation is so pretty and great for a dinner party. This is actually very simple to do and yet is a definite crowd pleaser.

Here's the steps I went through... it's not really a recipe, but rather a pretty easy, quick and delicious way for a great meal.

Ingredients:
Roast Chicken:
1. Chickens for roasting (you can find these at the meat counter)
-- I bought two as we had 8 guests for dinner and that allowed for leftovers
2. Fresh herbs to stuff the chicken
-- I used the Osage Gardens Poultry Blend that you can find by the fresh herbs in the produce
section at Whole Foods
3. Two-four lemons depending on the size and how many chickens you are roasting. If you are roasting one you probably only need 1-2 lemons, sliced into wedges to stuff the chicken
4. Chicken broth for de-glazing and basting to keep the chicken moist while cooking
5. Salt, pepper and olive oil for seasoning

Roast Vegetables:
You can use any variation for these. I wanted to use seasonal vegetables, but really whatever you have will work great.
1. Six small zucchinis, chopped
2. Three medium squash, chopped
3. Two yellow onions, chopped
4. Two sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
5. Olive oil and seasonings of your choice


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. To prep the chicken, remove the giblets and clean (as you would for a turkey). Place chicken/s in roasting pan (breast side up) and massage with olive oil, salt and pepper to keep skin moist. Stuff the chicken/s with the lemon wedges and fresh herbs. If you want to go ahead and tie or pin the legs to keep this all together. Roast the chicken/s for about an hour and a half until golden brown and an internal temperature of 165 degrees (at the deepest part of the meet).


Chickens prepped

For this dinner party we put some of the vegetables in the roasting pan with the chickens (after seasoning the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper).

The remaining vegetables we mixed with olive oil and a Moroccan spice seasoning blend and placed on a pan to roast. For roast vegetables you can add any spices you like, herbes de provence, curry, etc. Play around with whatever you have on your spice rack! The veggies can roast along with the chicken for about the last 45 minutes to an hour until they are tender to your liking.

This is not only a comforting, but also healthy meal that is great for family and friends. Better yet you can use the leftovers for soup stock!





Enjoy :)

Sunday Night Feast

It's tradition in my family to have a big meal together every Sunday evening. It's really fun for me as I know this will be a guaranteed time to try out new recipes. I love that I get to head to Whole Foods on Sundays and browse all of the amazing foods, try the samples and chat up the staff to learn about the different seafoods, cheeses, etc.

Tonight I decided to try out Pesto Mussels recipe from Real Simple Magazine that my friend Julie recommended. Real Simple does a great job of creating quick and delicious recipes with relatively few ingredients. I stuck to their mussels recipe (see below) but wanted to make sweet potato fries rather than the garlic fries (which I'm sure are great too). I can't get enough of sweet potatoes right now and thought they would be fun to incorporate. I tried two variations detailed below!

Lastly I felt like we needed another veggie in our meal so I roasted asparagus in the oven as well. It was a nice, light side and paired with the mussels and fries well.

Pesto Mussels Recipe
(From Real Simple)

1 cup dry white wine
2 pounds mussels, scrubbed
1/2 cup pesto (store bought or homemade if you are feeling ambitious!)

Directions:
Bring the wine to a boil in a large pot. Add the mussels and simmer, covered, until they open (about 3-4 minutes). Mix the pesto into the cooking liquid and let simmer for another minute or so. Serve with fries or bread.



Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

2-4 sweet potatoes (depending on how many you are serving or the amount you would like)
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Italian seasoning

Directions:
Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into wedges/stripes. You can create whatever size fries you like, just try to keep them consistent so that they require the same amount of time to bake. Arrange the wedges flat on a baking pan or cookie tray. I coated all of the wedges with olive oil and then sprinkled half with salt and pepper and the other half with salt and Italian seasoning to try out different flavors (both were delicious). From there bake the fries at 425° F for about 30-35 minutes depending how crispy you want them (remember to flip and move them around about half way through).



Roasted Asparagus
2 bunches of asparagus
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Wash and trim the ends off of the asparagus. Arrange on a cookie tray and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper (make sure to get both sides). Bake at 425° F for about 15 minutes or until they start to brown and are tender.



My family really enjoyed this whole meal! Tell me about your Sunday night dinners!