From our farm share last week, we received a wonderfully fresh young bird from a local chicken farm (here is the young man who owns the farm speaking about his birds and methods) along with some Ozark Mountain shiitake mushrooms that looked amazing. I wanted to use the ingredients together, so I decided on an easy one-pot meal that turned out amazing.
The benefit of cooking all of the food together is not only to simplify your dish load. The juices from the chicken drip down onto the veggies and help to caramelize the mushrooms and potatoes. And as long as you pay attention to cooking times (you don’t want to throw all of the ingredients in there at once or you will have blackened mushrooms and overcooked chicken), you’ll be golden!
Roasted Herb Chicken with Potatoes and Mushrooms
- One small chicken, giblets removed
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 8 small red potatoes, sliced very thinly
- A handful (about a cup or more if you like) shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp sage
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1/2 lemon
- 4 small shallots
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, halved
- Kosher salt, to taste (use a good amount!)
Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, toss the sliced potatoes, minced garlic, most of the dried parsley, and about 1 tsp of the kosher salt until the potatoes are coated evenly. When the oven is preheated, pop the potatoes into the oven for about 10 minutes while you prepare the chicken. Set aside the bowl for the mushrooms later!
Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Use your fingers to slip halved garlic cloves and small pats of butter under the skin of the breast of the chicken, making sure to spread it evenly all around, and near drumsticks. Squeeze half lemon into the cavity of the bird, then add the shallots, and place the squeezed half lemon into the cavity. Next, coat the outside of the chicken with about 1 tsp olive oil. Sprinkle thyme, sage, and remaining dried parsley on top, then kosher salt.
Pull the potatoes out and stir them around a bit, pushing them mostly to one half of the pan to later make room for the mushrooms. Place roasting rack on top, then chicken. Return to oven for 30 minutes at 400.
To prepare the mushrooms, toss them into the same bowl the potatoes where in. Add just a touch of olive oil and toss. They tend to soak up the leftover garlic and herbs if you use the same bowl!
After 30 minutes, throw in the mushrooms and stir them around to absorb a bit of the juices and olive oil. Reduce temp to 375, return to oven, and cook an additional 30 minutes (your cooking time may vary, depending on how large your chicken is– check chicken cooking times to be sure, but our bird was a small one, maybe 5 or 6 lbs tops).
When juices run clear and the top of the chicken is golden brown, it should be ready! Place onto a platter all together and garnish with chopped fresh parsley. And if you have leftover potatoes, try them heated up the next day in a skillet with a small pat of butter, some baby kale, freshly grated parmesan, and a good squeeze of lemon! Pop a fried egg on that baby and you have an amazing breakfast!
Or… you could throw the leftover potatoes into this amazing-looking quiche (I mean, Lilly’s crust is a work of art)… which is exactly what I plan on doing this weekend!
Happy Friday!
The other night, I snuck into Emil’s room to remove two of the three blankets he insists on sleeping under every night. It’s June, and we had yet to turn on our air conditioner- (we finally did yesterday when the inside of our house reached 88!) and though the weather has been beautiful, it can get warm in his room, which makes him wake up a hot, sweaty, angry mess in the middle of the night.
To save time, we brought hot water and soap outside so they could take an outdoor bath while we continued to work well into the evening. With a few refills on hot water, they stayed in for an hour! 
