One Pot Roasted Chicken & Veggies With Garlic Herb Yogurt
When I studied in Paris, I fell in love with roasted chicken. Every afternoon, on my way home from classes–I’d pass the rotisserie shop, whose windows would be full of spinning, golden brown birds just roasting to perfection. The french have a special way about roasting chicken–it’s like they just know perfectly how to balance flavor, crispness, and texture.
When I came back to San Francisco, I started trying to recreate the beauty that is a perfectly roasted chicken. I don’t want to say I have perfected it, but rather this is one of my favorite meals to cook – and its pretty darn good.
The thing about roast chicken is that you can’t (really) go wrong. I love to throw in any veggies I have on hand such as carrots, leeks, cabbages, and cover them with seasonings and oil. Potatoes are also another great add– they go so perfectly well with roasted chicken.
Ingredients
1 whole organic chicken
1/4 cup organic salted butter
6 potatoes of choice (sweet potatoes are usually my go to but I also love russet)
1/2 red onion
1/2 yellow onion
3 carrots
1 shallot
1 small head red cabbage, sliced into quarters
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 head garlic, chopped in half (one half will go inside the chicken, the other will go with the veggies)
1 lemon
seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion salt are some of my favorites)
fresh parsley to garnish
For the Yogurt Sauce
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup full fat greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
pinch of fresh parsley
Preheat the oven to 425.
In a large, oven-safe pot or deep roasting pan, drizzle some olive oil (about 1/4 cup). Start by washing and scrubbing the potatoes and carrots. Slice the carrots into long, medium sized strips. Then slice the potatoes into medium-sized wedges. Cut the onions into rough cuts and add them along with the carrots and potatoes to the pot.
Next chop the shallots and cabbage and add them to the top. Cut the garlic head in half around the center so that the base of the clove’s garlic stays intact. Set aside. Then chop the remaining garlic and add it to the veggies. Toss together with olive oil and desired seasonings.
Wash and pat dry the chicken. Remove any innards. Carefully use your fingers to gently separate the skin of the bird from the breasts. Using small fingerfulls of butter, gently line the inside of the skin, being careful not to let the skin separate completely. Then transfer the chicken to the pot with the veggies–stuff it with half a lemon and the other half of the garlic head. Drizzle the bird with olive oil and coat with seasonings.
Roast in the middle rack of the oven for roughly 1.5 hours, or until your chicken registers 165.
For the yogurt sauce, chop 3 cloves of garlic finely and mix with the yogurt. Drizzle olive oil and fresh lemon. Combine with salt and pepper. Let sit in the fridge until the chicken is done.
Serve with your favorite grain or a fresh green salad. Garnish the meal with a bit of fresh parsley. Enjoy!
