After the smell of freshly baked bread and cake, there’s the heavenly aroma of roasted chicken and vegetables that makes you ravenous, and whisks you away to a delightful place as you close you eyes and take it all in.
Sigh. Yes, I’m a sucker for roasted meat and vegetables. And more so for the quick-and-easy-to-make ones. This recipe with chicken and root vegetables is just such a recipe. You can finish preparing your dish in just under half and hour and relax while it roasts in the oven.
You can throw in whatever you have on hand. Do you have a chicken that is already cut into pieces? No problem! A full chicken? No problem. Do you have only potatoes? No problem. Only beetroot and sweet potatoes? No problem. Throw what ever you’ve got into your baking pan and you’ll have yourself a beautiful roast.
Whether eaten for lunch or dinner, this dish will keep you full until your next meal. If I eat it for lunch, then I’m good with just tea (and no biscuits) until it’s time for dinner. And you can put the leftovers to good use too, churning out white sauce chicken pasta or chicken noodles with whatever little you have remaining.
- 500 g (1 lb) chicken on the bone
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar optional
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 sprigs of rosemary divided
- 2 pinches dried thyme
- 2 pinches dried sage
- 2 small onions
- 8-10 cloves of garlic with the skin crushed lightly and divided
- 300 gm potatoes
- 300 gm sweet potatoes
- 300 gm carrots
- 300 gm beetroots
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 teaspoons sea salt divided
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper powder divided
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Wash the chicken and pat dry. In a mixing bowl, add the chicken, white wine vinegar, lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon rosemary (or 1 sprig of rosemary leaves), 2 pinches dried thyme, 2 pinches dried sage, 4-5 cloves of garlic (place the garlic pod on a clean surface, place the blade of a knife over it and hit the blade with the heel of your palm, crushing it lightly) with the skin on — it roasts ever so beautifully this way, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder, and mix them all up. Let the chicken marinate while you prepare the root vegetables.
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Wash and peel the root vegetables. Add the potatoes and sweet potatoes in a pot and boil them for 7 minutes over a medium flame.
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Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF).
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Take the vegetables off the stove. Peel the skins off the sweet potatoes and potatoes — it’s always easier peeling the skins off sweet potatoes and potatoes once they are boiled, but leave the potatoes on with their jackets as they taste great once they turn into a crisp. If you don’t like them that way, take their jackets off — it will not affect the taste.
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Quarter the potatoes, onions, beetroots and the carrots, and cut the sweet potato into small cubes or make half-inch slices. Transfer them to a large baking pan and add 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon rosemary (or 1 sprig of rosemary leaves), 4-5 cloves of garlic crushed the same way mentioned in step 1 — with the skin on, 1 teaspoon sea salt (you can be a little more generous, as the potatoes are going to absorb them good), and 1 teaspoon pepper powder. Mix them up with your hands, or toss them in the pan to ensure that all the pieces are coated with the oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.
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Lay them out evenly in the pan. Then, lay out the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables.
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Put them all into the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
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Serving: Serve hot. Drizzle the juices from the pan onto the the chicken and vegetables on your plate.
You can use a whole chicken if you wish. If you do so, do turn the chicken over 20 minutes before you take it out of the oven. I have used medium pieces in this recipe. In this recipe I used potatoes, sweet potatoes, beetroots and carrots. You can use any other root vegetable — like tapioca — or just stick to potato. All of them will pair well with chicken!