Roasted Chicken with Parsnip, Turnip, & Rutabaga

Everything else
1

I decided to see what I could create with a nearly empty pantry and the last of our winter root vegetables. My wife was out for the day and I was stuck at home with the kids, so hitting the market was out of the question. The only protein in the fridge was bone-in chicken thighs, so here is what I cobbled together.

6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons crushed chili pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

chopped this all up in the food processor and smeared over 10 rinsed/patted dry chicken thighs. Sealed in a ziplock bag and refrigerated for 2 hours.

3 parsnips cut into 1/4 inch slices (about 3 cups)
2 rutabagas cut into 1/4 inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1 turnip cut into 1/4 inch cubes (about 2 cups)
2 carrots cut into 1/4 inch slices (about 2 cups)
tossed in
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, diced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

and spread out on a jelly roll pan. Placed the chicken thighs on top.

Preheated oven to 400 degrees. Roasting for 45 minutes.

I’ll post pictures and taste reactions after dinner.

2

I stuffed a cornish game hen with cat food and cat-friendly greens.

I didn’t take a bite, but my cats seemed to love it.

3

I made tamales from scratch.

4

Sadly, my wife and kids were too hungry to wait for me to take pictures when it came out of the oven. It was delicious comfort food for this cold and drizzly winter day with our beloved Seahawks losing their final game under Mike Holmgren.

5

Ok, since we are sharing recipes here is my honeyed cashewnut roast chicken with caremelized whole onions.:

Ingredients

1 Organic free range chicken (They just taste better)
75 - 100 grams roasted, unsalted cashew nuts
5-7 tablespoons of honey
2 onions
1 sprig of rosemary
salt
olive oil
mixed, dried italian sytle herbs for onions.
2 tea spoons of white or brown sugar.

Using a long, but rounded tipped knife, seperate the skin from the chicken without removing it or poking holes in it. If you have small hands, use then to seperate the skin from the drumsticks.

Once you have done this you should be left with a bird that looks exactly like it did before but there should be a pocked between the flesh and skin.

Inject or pour most of the honey into this pocket, using your fingers to distribute the honey evenly.

Chop the chashew nuts and put about 3/4 of them in the pocket and distribute them in there evenly making sure to get them under the skin of the drumsticks as well.

Baster the to of the chicken with the remaining honey and sprinkle the rest of the chopped cashew nuts on top along with the sprig of rosemary finely chopped.

Drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of a roasting pan with a lid (The honey burns if exposed directly to the heat of the oven.)

For the onions, place each onion on a square of tin foil. Spritz the entire onion with a spall amount of olive oil and sprinkle one small teaspoon of sugar on each onion along with a teaspoon and a half to two teaspoons of chopped, dried herbs evenly over the onions. (The herbs should stick because of the olive oil.) Wrap the onions in the tin foil and place in the roasting pan with the chicken.

Roast with the lid on at 220C for thirty minutes them lower the temperature of the oven to 180 and cook for an additional ten minutes per 500g of chicken. You can baste the chicken periodically with its juices using a spoon.

Serve with roast potatoes and your choice of vegetables. If you jnow how to make a gravy out of the chicken drippings, all the more power to you.