Chicken with Lemon and Olives

When I purchase chickens my preference is often to buy a whole bird and then part it out myself. This is generally cheaper than buying packages of single cuts and a whole chicken offers a variety of different meats to satisfy everyone’s taste and texture preferences.

Since I can happily eat chicken for breakfast and chicken is Nolan’s favourite meat, leftovers never go to waste.

I do love that Costco is selling more and more organic items and lately my local store has begun selling packages of two whole organic chickens, making an organic option relatively affordable.

One of my favourite ways to roast a whole chicken is to cut it into 10 parts (I cut the breasts in half crosswise) and to toss it in a mixture of garlic, olive oil, sherry vinegar and herbs, then roast it in a pan with olives, lemons and prunes.

I think this recipe originally came from a Canadian Living magazine article. I don’t worry about measuring my ingredients as this recipe is so simple that I make it from memory. That makes it a go-to when I don’t want to think too much.

Steve and I both love green olives stuffed with garlic so that is what I usually use, though any substantial green olive will work. Buy big ones as roasting them will definitely dry them out and shrivel them. Little ones won’t stand up as well to the time and temperature required here.

Additionally you’ll want to use pitted prunes to avoid crunching down on a pit. Try to find nice moist ones. They’ll stand up to the dry heat better than drier ones, which can become a bit hard and chewy when roasted. The prunes offer a bite of sweetness to contrast the lemon and olive and are especially good when they share a fork with a bit of chicken.

You can try different herb combinations too. Dried oregano is nice and so is thyme. An herby blend of pretty much any type would work very well here.

This is a hearty dish but I find it is great for both summer and winter. Though I’ve never tried it, I imagine you could even place your roasting dish over indirect heat on the barbecue for those hot summer days when you definitely don’t want to heat up the house.

Chicken with Lemon and Olives

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Servings: 4

Author: www.miasdailydish.com

Hearty roasted chicken, highlighted with fresh lemon, olives and sweet prunes makes a simple weeknight dinner that's fancy enough to serve to guests.

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Ingredients

• 1 whole preferably organic and free range, chicken
• kosher salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp sherry or other wine vinegar
• 1 - 2 cloves fresh garlic crushed or finely minced
• 1 Tbsp dried herbs or herb blend. Try oregano thyme or coarse poultry blend (I don't recommend finely powdered poultry spice)
• 1 large lemon cut into 8 wedges
• 1/4 cup dried pitted prunes - or more to taste
• 1/4 cup large pitted green olives - or more to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425°
2. Cut the chicken into 8 - 10 pieces, wings, drumsticks, thighs and breasts. Cut off any big chunks of fat but leave the skin on the chicken
3. Cut breasts into 2 pieces crosswise so that all parts are roughly the same size
4. Season chicken on all sides with salt and pepper then place into a shallow roasting pan
5. In a small bowl combine oil, vinegar, garlic and herbs. Pour over chicken and toss with hands to evenly distribute
6. Distribute the prunes, green olives and lemon wedges evenly around the pan. It is better if the prunes and olives are on top of the chicken rather than resting on the pan surface as they will better retain their moisture
7. Roast uncovered for about 40 minutes, or until done
8. Transfer to a serving dish and carefully pour any pan juices over the chicken. You may wish to use a gravy separator to remove the fat from the pan juices, depending on the fattiness of the chicken

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Canadian Living Magazine