Lebanese Baked Chicken

By SMorrissey

Ingredients

• 4 T. olive oil
• 1 cut up whole chicken or 8 pieces
• 4 oz. onion cut into wedges (separate layers)
• 2 Roma tomatoes cut into wedges
• 6-10 cloves garlic, (leave half of them whole, mince the rest)
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Dash salt and pepper
• OPTIONAL: Carrots and wedges of rutabaga or turnips (for non-low-carbers, potato wedges)

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from buttoni.wordpress.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 500º.  Cut up chicken into separate pieces making 8 pieces in all.

Drizzle 1 T. of the olive oil on the bottom of a very large baking/roasting pan (I use a 12 x 15 stainless steel metal pan).

Place chicken skin side up  in the pan.  You don’t want any overlapping or crowding.Crowding of this chicken and the surrounding veggies will result in deeper pan juices around them and that will impede crisping of the chicken. 

Place tomato wedges around and in between chicken pieces.  Do the same with the onion pieces and add the garlic. 

If using the root vegetables, cut them up and place them evenly around the chicken. 

Squeeze the lemon over everything in the pan. 

Drizzle remaining olive oil over the pan contents as well.  

Lightly sprinkle some oregano all over.  

Bake 30 minutes at 500º.  Baste with pan juices, lower heat to 350º and bake another 20 minutes or to internal temperature of the chicken is 170º on a meat thermometer.  

Baste with pan juices just before serving if desired.  I like to place the juices in a gravy boat and have it on the table for basting the drier breast meat.