Lemon Oregano Roast Chicken with Olives and Potatoes

I can get used to this AIR CONDITIONING ALL THE TIME gig. Lovely roasted chicken with oven blaring on a weekday night when the temperature has been 95 degrees with 35% humidity. BRING IT!!!! Please let the electricity hold out. PLEASE!

We were both requiring some good old fashioned roasted meat comfort that night. The Colonel has had to weigh a tough decision: whether to run again for the State Legislature (a Dem is retiring). I have had to weigh tough decisions like, when should I take the puppy out for another walk? Well, my day was slightly more complicated than that, but....humor.

Into the sauna!

Our last trip to the Paradise Known As Food City resulted in the purchase of a two pack of whole 3 to 4 pound chickens for .98 cents a pound. Ninety Eight Cents A Pound!!!! I am using the second of the pack to roast up a pan full of chicken and potatoes, exquisitely seasoned with lemons,  fresh oregano, garlic and shallots, and dappled with Kalamata olives.

The smell while roasting was absolutely heavenly, and while waiting and smelling, I looked up my Marriott points to see if we can do a Staycation night at JR Marriott at Desert Ridge. Denied! But there's one in Tucson that we'll check out.

Mangia!

Ta Da!

Lemon Oregano Roast Chicken with Olives and Potatoes

Adapted from Epicurious

INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken (3 pounds), rinsed and patted dry

2 large garlic cloves, minced to a paste
3 unpeeled garlic cloves

3 sprigs fresh oregano, plus 1 1/2 tablespoon roughly chopped leaves

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, finely minced

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 lemons

2 red onions, quartered and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes, quartered (I used purple, red and yellow fingerlings)

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, roughly chopped

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock

 Preheat the oven to 400°, with the rack positioned in the center. Loosely tie the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wing tips under. Put the chicken in a large bowl and rub it inside and out with the garlic paste. Place the unpeeled garlic and 3 oregano sprigs in the cavity.

Stir together the olive oil, shallot, 1 tablespoon chopped oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Loosen the skin near the cavity with your hands; spread some of the oil under the skin. Pour the remaining oil mixture over the skin to coat. Transfer the chicken to a roasting pan with rack. Squeeze juice from 1 lemon half over the chicken; and place in the cavity. Season the bird evenly with 1 teaspoon of salt and another 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Quarter the onions and potatoes; arrange around the bird. Add the black olives to the surrounding vegetables. Tuck two lemon slices between each of the wings and breasts and scatter the remaining slices from 1 lemon over the vegetables. Sprinkle the vegetables with 1/2 tablespoon of oregano and pour the wine and stock into bottom of the Dutch oven.

Roast the chicken and vegetables for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 325° and continue cooking for 45 minutes, basting 2 or 3 times with the pan juices until an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken thigh registers 165°.

Remove the chicken from the oven, and let stand for 10 minutes. Check the doneness of the potatoes and continue cooking them as necessary (I had to cook for about 25 minutes more, but that probably had to do with them being somewhat crowded in the roasting pan) Carve and arrange pieces on a serving platter with the roasted potatoes, lemon slices, onions, and black olives.