Surprisingly. . . she was craving chicken. . .

For those of you who know me well enough, you will know that I'm a steak and potatoes kind of girl. I like my meat medium rare with some herb butter and my potatoes anyway you'd like to serve them to me. It was quite a surprise (to myself and especially to Ben) when I was craving chicken last night for dinner. I had e-mailed him suggesting a type of roast, but decided that the time put into it just wouldn't cut it for me. On the otherhand, steaks are pretty fast to cook, but I just wasn't feeling it. So, I opted to make chicken instead.

Roasted Chicken and Veggies:
Ingredients:
one chicken, cut up
1.5 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
splash of soy sauce
salt and pepper
Veggies: 5 carrots. 1 celery heart. 1 yellow onion. 10 pearl onions. 5 cloves of garlic. 1 pkg button mushrooms. or your choice.

Veggies should be cut to what I like to call "roasting size." This means the carrots and celery stalks are cut into thirds and halved (if necessary). The onion is cut into sixths. pearl onions and garlic are just peeled. mushrooms are halved or quartered.

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Season on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil and butter in a roasting pan over two burners at med-high heat. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add chicken pieces, skin side down. Add soy sauce. Cook on both sides for 4-5 minutes, until you get a nice brown color. Add veggies around chicken. Transfer to oven and roast until an instant read thermometer reads 175 degrees F in the thickest part of thigh piece and juices run clear, about 40-60 minutes. You can make a gravy from the drippings if you desire, but I didn't. Serve with rice.

Sorry, no pictures of this meal. By the time it was done, we were all so hungry that I forgot to photograph it. You get a picture of this Le Creuset set that I really want instead. ;-)