Chicken Thighs with Roasted Herb Vegetables

This is a roasting pan one pan wonder sort of meal. I used one of my Calphalon non-stick roasting pans to sear the chicken, then roast the vegetables and add the chicken back in to finish roasting in the oven. One pan to clean up makes life so much easier and if your life is hectic, well you want as little clean up as possible, right? From start to finish, prep work, searing the chicken and roasting takes about 1 1/2 hours tops so it would even be good for weeknights. While the vegetables are roasting you can be helping kids get settled into homework or toss in a load of laundry. When all is said and done you have a well balanced, delicious meal ready to serve the family.


Roasted vegetables take on a different flavor profile all together. You don't boil all of the nutrients out of them as well, which is much better for you and for your family. There's even a pan sauce I've made to go with the chicken and the important part of the sauce is skimming the fat from the butter and the chicken skin using a fat separator if you have one. If you don't own one, I highly recommend spending a few dollars and pick one up. You won't believe how great they work and how much less fat you remove from the food you are eating! The recipe for the sauce follows the chicken recipe and the sauce is totally optional.

The vegetables that are roasted caramelize so nicely and the flavor from the herbs and that caramelization will have your taste buds doing a happy dance! Seriously good stuff. And the chicken comes out beautifully cooked!

• 4 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
• 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes - cut in chunks
• 1 large onion - cut in chunks
• 4 large carrots - cut on the bias in good sized pieces
• 1 - 10 oz. box button mushrooms (or crimini)
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of herbs de Provence
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• onion powder to taste
• granulated garlic to taste

If you don't have Herbs de Provence, Emeril Lagasse has a recipe for it on the Food Network, just follow the link and create your own. I trust his recipes as I have made a few of them.

1. Begin by prepping all of your vegetables. No need to peel the potatoes - just scrub them well and then cut them into chunks. Try to keep your vegetables relatively the same size. When you prep the mushrooms you can leave the stems on and halve the smaller ones and quarter the larger mushrooms.
   
   
2. At this point start your oven and preheat it to 425° so it's ready when the chicken is done searing.
3. Wash your chicken with cold water. Dry it really well with some paper towels. Season both sides of the chicken with salt, black pepper, onion powder and granulated garlic to taste.
4. On your stove top, heat your roasting pan over high heat. Add in the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it's hot and bubbly you can turn the heat down to medium high. Add in the chicken thighs skin side down. Sear for 8 minutes on the skin side getting it nice and golden brown. When you are satisfied, turn them over and sear for about 3 minutes. Move them to a waiting plate.
   
5. To the roasting pan add 2 more tablespoons of butter it will begin to melt with the heat of the pan and carefully add all of the vegetables. Be careful not to plop as the butter will spit back at you!
   
6. Season the vegetables with some salt and black pepper and the Herb de Provence. Give a good stir.
7. Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast the vegetables for 20 minutes. Pop back out of the oven and give them a turn. Place the pan back in the oven and roast for another 20 minutes.
   
8. After 20 minutes, pull the pan out and move the vegetables to the sides of the pan. Place the chicken skin side up on the pan and roast for another 20-30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°. Mine were cooked to perfection with the additional 20 minutes.

 For the sauce:

• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp.half and half
• dash of Gravy Master® or Kitchen Bouquet

1. When the chicken and vegetables are done move them to platters and cover with foil.
2. Take the roasting pan and set it on the stove top. 
3. Over medium high heat add in the chicken broth and a dash of Gravy Master. Whisk well getting up all the good bits.
4. Place this mixture in your fat separator. Let it settle. Then pour the broth back into the roasting pan minus the fat.
5. Let this come up to a quick bubble and whisk in the mustard and half and half.
6. The next step I did was to use a small fine mesh strainer and strain the sauce into a gravy boat. Doing that took all the bits out of the sauce, making it a more polished looking sauce. The strainer I used was a small one I had purchased for dusting with powdered sugar.
7. Adjust for any salt or pepper and it's ready.

As I was able to purchase the chicken at $1.00 per pound and got a bargain on the mushrooms, this dinner came out to approximately $10.68 for a total cost. Feeding four portions for $2.67 each portion.

Look at how gorgeous the chicken is! It's tender, moist and just scrumptious!