Quick Roast Chicken – aka – Shabbat in 50min

CHICKEN

Turn oven on to preheat at 425. Unwrap chicken (cut any ties) and place on cutting board. Remove the wishbone (makes for better carving).

Coat the bird with olive oil, season with good pinches of salt and pepper, rub into skin. Place roasting pan in the oven with enough oil to coat the bottom. Put the chicken aside to warm up to room temperature.

Wash and chop all roasting vegetables in similar sizes (carrots, celery, onion, and brussels sprouts) and add to big bowl. Chop handful of parsley too, set aside. TIP: make sure to chop enough vegetables to include in the stock afterward – carrot, celery, onion, garlic. Season well with salt and pepper, toss to combine.

Transfer chicken to roasting grate, breast up. Remove preheated roasting pan from oven. Transfer the vegetables from bowl to roasting pan, and place roasting grate with chicken over top (saving the rest of the veggies for the stock). Place into the oven for approximately 40-50min or when breast reaches 165 degrees. Don’t clean up chicken stuff yet – wash hands and move to another area to get the potatoes cooking – use a different cutting board and knife.--

POTATOES

Chop a bunch of potatoes into bite sized pieces, I estimate 2 medium potatoes per person in my family. Place into large pot with water and place on the stove on max. Boil until done (lightly squishes on a board). Drain, put back in pot but keep of heat, allow to air dry for 5 min.

Add half of the 1/4 cup of olive oil, season well with salt and pepper, add 1/2 the parsley, put lid back on and toss. If more moisture desired add more olive oil. Leave lid on pot until ready to serve.

SALAD

Chop all salad stuffs (tomato, cucumber, lettuce, onion, pickles olives etc…) to bowl, season (i use a pinch of sea salt and a little olive oil, but feel free to use your favourite).

After 30 min check temp of chicken. Once at 165 degrees F on the breast. Turn oven to broil, leave in oven another 5 min to crisp the skin.

Once crisp, remove roasting pan from oven, remove grate and allow chicken to rest. Return roasting pan to oven and continue to roast veg while the chicken rests for 10min. Watch chicken closely to avoid burning.

Layout enough plates for everyone. Dispatch potatoes to middle of plate, squish flat. Remove veg from oven, lay a few spoons of veg on the potatoes.

Carve chicken, serve chicken as requested (white, dark, crispies) onto the plate. Serve salad in the bowl for those who would like some. Save the chicken bones for stock.