🍗Plain Jane Roast Chicken (or Turkey) Dinner

Classic with a twist

Sound easy to you or daunting?

Once you get onto roast chicken dinners or the little more upscale, turkey dinner, you wonder why you haven’t made it before. All can be in the oven with dinner off the list so you can get onto your next thing.

There is nothing quite like the subtle restful feeling of when dinner prep is done. Way ahead of dinner time. And, the lingering aroma of this cooking away reminds you that the pre-dinner hour will be smoother today. If you tuck it into the oven before heading out, you will get a waft of ‘all done’ when you walk through the door. It feels like someone cooked for you.

The Plain Jane version is classic. Or, add a ‘twist’ of lemon and rosemary for variety and depth of flavor.

Roast Chicken Dinner ready to go in the oven.

Good For You

• Whole foods

• Fiber

• Protein

• Vegetables

Good For

• Fall and winter oven meals

• Gluten and dairy-free, if you need it

• Leftovers (or planned-over extras) can be used for another night’s chicken/turkey soup, sandwiches, or a host of other recipes.

Roast Turkey (or Chicken) Dinner

Ingredients

• 1 roaster chicken or turkey, your choice of size

• 1 large onion, sliced

• Poultry seasoning

• Salt and Pepper, to taste

• 1 Lemon, cut into 1/4s, optional

• Ground or sprigs of rosemary, optional

• Carrots, cut in sections and halved or quartered if large; enough to feed your family

• Potatoes, whole, washed, and poked, for baking OR peeled (and halved, if large); enough to feed your family

• Squash, halved, seeded, with a small dollop of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar or maple syrup as desired, optional

Method

• Preheat oven to 400°F.

• If baking squash alongside your chicken dinner, prepare, place in a baking dish, and cover with aluminum foil.

• Fill a roasting pan filled with 1” of water, that is big enough to fit your poultry and vegetables. Settle your chicken or turkey in the center of the roaster.

• If using a lemon, squeeze 3 lemon sections over your poultry, placing them in the water once squeezed. Insert one unsqueezed section inside the breast cavity.

• Sprinkle the whole bird with poultry seasoning. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and rosemary, if desired.

• Spread onion slices over all.

• Arrange carrots around poultry.

• Nestle potatoes on top of carrots.

• Cover and bake at 400°F for 30 minutes.

• Decrease the heat to 350°F; add the pan of squash and baked potatoes alongside.

• Bake until the thermometer reads 180°F when inserted in the middle of a breast or thigh (not touching a bone). Here are some estimated cooking times for just the poultry. Add time for the addition of vegetables to your meal. I allow 3 hours for a medium-sized chicken and vegetables.

• If you like the skin browned, take the cover off for the last half hour, or in a pinch, once the chicken is fully cooked, turn your oven on broil and set your timer for 5 minutes.

• Place poultry on a cutting board that has a divot to catch broth, or on a rimmed baking sheet to debone. Save your broth for gravy or for making soup (soup recipe to come in December!).

Nutrition tips:

• Pour your broth into a glass measuring cup before using, allowing the fat to rise to the top. If using the broth right away for gravy, scoop off the fat that rises to the top and discard. If using your broth later, the fat will solidify in the fridge and is easily separated. Animal fat does not have a health benefit. I’m not arguing about the flavor, but you will find there is still plenty of flavor left in your broth without the poultry fat.

• It is easy to control the salt in this recipe if the poultry is fresh or fresh-frozen. Any that are “seasoned” are soaked in a salt brine and often are injected with oils.

Kitchen tips:

• Debone poultry while still warm. So much easier!

• Do you need to duck out as soon as it goes into your oven? No problem. Still preheat your oven to 400°F. Reduce the temperature to 350°F once the roasting pan goes in.

• Look for the next easy step in December to make chicken soup. A natural way to get a jump on your next meal.

I hope this recipe brings a little more peace and rest to your table. Do you have someone in mind who would be encouraged by it?

What’s cooking up some memories around your table?

Pull up a chair to the Contented Table Community Chat to join the conversation. Or leave a comment below.

Bring a friend, there’s always room for one more,

Jane