Roast Chicken with Potatoes 'n Onions

Hey there!  How are you all doing with your Lenten journey?  On a previous blog, I wrote about keeping yourself healthy - mind, body, and soul.  It all goes together.  You can't leave one of those components out.  Here is a delicious, filling, and nutritious recipe for your family.  It is earthy and real and you will have so much satisfaction knowing you made it all yourself.  It has the winning combination - meat and potatoes but without the fat from red meat.

I have been making this roast chicken recipe now for years and it is definitely a favorite of my family's, as well as being a favorite of guests.  You just can't beat that earthy flavor of roasted meat and potatoes.  Soooooooo comforting and oh so yummy!!!  Since I am learning how to add recipes to my blog, please bear with me as I do not yet have a "print"button with the recipes. I guess y'all will just have to copy it down by hand!  *gasp*  No, I promise I will learn how to get that pesky feature on the blog for easy printing.  Without further ado…

Roast Chicken with Potatoes 'n Onions

Ingredients:
4 lb (approx) roasting chicken
Spice mix (salt, pepper, sage, thyme)
Olive oil
Yukon gold potatoes (about 5 good size potatoes)
1 large white onion ( I like sweet onions )
1 lemon
1 cup white wine (can use cooking wine)

Buy a roasting chicken that is somewhere around 4 lbs.  I have bought larger, but it's difficult to find them too much larger when you're buying free range ones organic ones.

These spices are all you need for this bird!!!

Prepare your spice mix in a small bowl and set aside:
2 T kosher salt
1/2 - 1 t pepper (however much pepper you like)
1 t dry sage (I usually just eyeball it - you could use more here too)
1 t dry thyme (same as sage)

Here is the spice mixture all mixed together.

On a cutting board, cut a lemon and a large onion into wedges.

I did not have a large enough onion on hand - you can add another small onion.
I just went with this as I was in a hurry!

You will use about half the lemon and about half the onion.  The other half of the lemon you can use for a tall glass of cold iced tea, and the other half of the onion will be thrown together with the potatoes to roast.

You will need to pull the onion segments apart for roasting.

Wash your potatoes and set them on paper towels to dry them off.  I usually use half a bag of yukon gold potatoes.  Cut the potatoes into about 1-1 1/2 inch wedges/chunks.  They shouldn't be perfect - this is a rustic meal!

Aren't these gorgeous???!!!
I usually use yukon gold potatoes - which roast so beautifully,
but these little beauties were at the store and I couldn't resist!

Throw the potatoes into a large bowl.  Take the remaining onion and pull the segments apart and throw them into the bowl.
Liberally coat them all with olive oil and some of the spice mixture.  Now get your hands in there and mix them all around.

Here are these gorgeous taters all oiled up and spiced up!!!

Rinse the chicken under cold water, remove any innards, and set breast down on a bed of paper towels. Dry it all over.

Spray your pan with some non-stick cooking spray.  I use a 10 x 13 pan.
Rub the side of the chicken that's facing up with olive oil - be generous.  Liberally sprinkle with your spice mix.

This is the bottom side of the bird before flipping over and spicing up the top!

Liberally sprinkle spice mix to the inside cavity of the chicken and place breast side up in your pan.
Stuff the chicken with your lemon and onion chunks - about three or four pieces each.

All stuffed and ready to infuse the meat with lemon and onion goodness!

Oil the top (breast side) of the chicken and liberally sprinkle the chicken.  Give her a pat just for good measure!  :)
Pour the potatoes and onions all around the sides of the chicken.
Pour about a cup of white wine (yes, you can use white cooking wine) into the bottom of the pan without washing off the spices from the potatoes.  Oh yes!  White wine and chicken and potatoes and onions and sage and thyme will fill your home with the aroma of the best home cooked meal - EVER!!!

Oh my goodness, can you stand it???!!!

Roast this bird at 350 degrees Fahrneheit for 20 minutes/pound.  So, if you bought a 4 lb chicken, you will roast it for 1hr and 20 minutes.  When it's done, take out of the oven and let it rest for about ten minutes.  Remove the potatoes from the sides of the pan and place in a separate serving dish.  Keep them warm by gently tenting them with foil.
Remove the lemons and onions from the inside of the chicken and discard.

Roasted and caramelized potatoes and onions - mmmmmmm!!!

Place the chicken on a large cutting board.  Carve the breasts out first and set aside.  Carve out the thighs and legs and set aside.  Flip the bird over and remove any meat from the underside.  Throw away the carcass (I'm not "foodie" enough to save the carcass to make homemade chicken stock - lol!)
Cut the breasts into slices and remove all meat from the legs and thighs.  Place all the meat on a serving plate and drizzle pan drippings over all.  (You could strain the drippings into a separator first if you're really watching the fat.)

All that hard work really payed off!!!  Look how beautiful that chicken is?
Can't you just taste it now???

All you have to do is serve this with something green - a salad is usually the easiest as the chicken is taking up the entire oven.  Here is the simple salad I whipped up … (butter lettuce, tomato, cucumber, feta, and homemade salad dressing)

Although, you could roast asparagus in the oven while the chicken is resting.  Whatever green you like - serve it up and you have a complete meal!!!  I will blog about my super easy homemade salad dressing in a future blog - so look for that!

I hope this recipe finds you and your family well.  Please drop me a note here or on my Facebook page and let me know if you made it and how it turned out.  If you roast chickens regularly too, how do you make yours?  We would all love to hear!!!

May God continue to bless you and guide you during this Lenten season.  Stay healthy - mind, body, and soul!  ~+  Katherine