No I did not miss you – Roasted chicken thighs with lemon, herbs, olives and sunburst squash
Non, tu ne m’as pas manqué - Cuisses de poulet rôties aux herbes, citron et olives à la courge
Since I don’t really eat meat, I know my blog lacks meat recipes, I figured that when I cook for some non-vegetarian people who do eat meat, I take the opportunity for putting up the recipe on the blog. I look at those chicken thighs and it reminds me of my cute and sweet parakeet and I really have to think about something else or I won’t be able to cook them. Sometimes, I have to detach myself from things that bother me, or I won’t be able to do anything.
I love fresh herbs, all of them! When I first moved to California, I was amazed to see tons of houses with bushes of rosemary as a decoration plant. I thought that was funny, I was wondering if people used it for cooking or if it was just as a decoration…and still I have no answer to that. I used to live on a street where almost all houses had huge rosemary plants bordering them and coming all the way on the sidewalk. Sometimes, when I was out of rosemary, I would help myself. I know it’s not very appropriate but at the time, I thought it was not a big deal especially considering the size of the rosemary spreading in a public zone.
This chicken is very flavorful and mainly due to the tons of herbs I use in it. Sometimes I marinate it overnight so it gets infused with herbs and you get a wonderful roasted chicken. You can also use pearl onions instead of yellow onions.
Squash being in season, I figured I would use it, but some other vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc…would work as well. If you have guests over, and want to spend time with them rather in your kitchen, roasted chicken is the key, you just need to baste it once in a while and that’s it. It’s like the kid that doesn’t need any attention, you just give him a toy and he keeps himself busy.
You might need to cover the dish with some aluminum foil for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how your oven cooks, then removing the foil to let the chicken brown. I am still trying to figure out how my oven works with the circular heat.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 4 chicken legs
- 1 whole butternut squash, cut in large pieces
- 2 tbs green olives
- 1 tbs strong Dijon mustard
- 3 rosemary sprigs and chopped
- 3 thyme, sprigs and chopped
- 3 tarragon sprigs and chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 5 lemon slices
- 4 tbs chicken broth
- chili flakes
- salt and pepper
Preparation
You can marinated the chicken overnight with herbs, garlic, mustard and onion, but it’s optional. You can get a fragrant chicken even if you don’t marinate it.
Keep some herb sprigs, chop some of it. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing container except chicken broth and mustard. Place chicken in a oven tray, add herb mixture on top of chicken and coat chicken with it. Spread mustard on both sides of legs.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 min, then add broth and regularly baste chicken with it.
Add squash, salt and pepper, and cook until chicken is well roasted and squash tender.
Beautiful. Roasted chicken is a real comfort food for us, and so thankfully easy to do when the oven does most of the work. I love one pot/casserole dish meals!