Cast Iron Chicken and Vegetables

Ingredience

Spice Mixture

4 teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Chicken and Vegetables

1 (3½- to 4-pound) whole chicken, giblets discarded

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 pound small Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, halved

1 (1-pound) fennel bulb, stalks discarded, bulb halved through root end and cut into 1-inch wedges

1 red onion, cut through root end into 1-inch wedges

2 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, then halved crosswise

Sauce

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

Pokyny

1. For the Spice Mixture Combine all ingredients in bowl and set aside.

2. For the Chicken and Vegetables Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. With chicken breast side down on cutting board, use kitchen shears to cut through bones on either side of backbone; discard backbone or reserve for another use. Flip chicken and press on breastbone to flatten. Tuck wingtips underneath breast. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Cut ½-inch-deep slit into drumstick-thigh joint on each side of chicken.

3. Sprinkle underside of chicken with 1 tablespoon spice mixture. Flip chicken and rub skin with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle chicken skin with 5 teaspoons spice mixture.

4. Heat 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet and heat until just smoking. Add potatoes to skillet, cut side down. Add fennel, onion, and carrots to skillet, allowing them to come into contact with bottom of skillet as much as space permits; some vegetables will have to sit on top of potatoes. Sprinkle vegetables with remaining spice mixture.

5. Place chicken on top of vegetables, skin side up. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until breast registers 160 degrees and drumsticks/thighs register at least 175 degrees, about 1 hour.

6. For the Sauce Meanwhile, whisk all ingredients together in bowl; set aside.

7. Transfer chicken to carving board. Return skillet with vegetables to oven and roast until potatoes are browned on bottom, about 15 minutes.

8. Carve chicken, spoon sauce over top, and serve with vegetables.

Poznámky

You can make this recipe in a traditional stainless-steel or ovensafe nonstick skillet, but it will take the potatoes longer to brown in step 7. Be sure to buy potatoes measuring 1 to 2 inches in diameter. If you use table salt instead of kosher salt, cut the amounts in half and distribute the spice mixture accordingly. If you can’t find a 1-pound bulb of fennel, buy several smaller ones. The weight of the trimmed fennel going into the skillet should be about 8 ounces.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS We wanted a full dinner of golden, juicy roast chicken and hearty vegetables, and we wanted to cook it all in one pan to limit the cleanup. We began by butterflying a whole chicken and then rubbing the skin generously with olive oil (to help our spice mixture stick and the skin crisp). Seasoning the bird with a mixture of salt, fresh thyme, granulated garlic, and smoked paprika produced an instant hit of complex flavor with a subtle smokiness. For the side dish, we sprinkled our favorite vegetables for roasting—potatoes, fennel, onion, and carrots—with the same spice mixture that went on the chicken. We then added them to a hot cast-iron skillet with a bit more olive oil and placed the chicken on top. Starting in a preheated cast-iron skillet yielded browned rather than braised vegetables (because the juices from the bird cooked off faster), while butterflying the chicken meant that the white and dark meat cooked through at the same time. Laying the chicken out flat also meant that all the skin was exposed to the hot air in the oven. In just an hour, the chicken was cooked perfectly, and all the skin was golden and crispy. For a final touch, a bright parsley, lemon, and garlic sauce was easy enough to stir together while the chicken roasted, and it proved to be just the thing to make this comforting dinner truly memorable.