Roasted Curry Chicken Over Vegetables

This is one of the many recipes from my mother that I hold dear. She used to serve the chicken with rice on the side, but I decided to add vegetables under the chicken, and cook them all at the same time. Taking advantage of the juices coming from the chicken really enhances the taste of the vegetables and makes this a “one pot dish”.

As far as which vegetables to use, you can get as creative as you like, just keep in mind that root vegetables go very well with this dish. I hope you give it a try!

Ingredients

• 6 whole chicken legs
• 1 fennel bulb
• 6 medium potatoes
• 8 oz mushrooms
• 4 medium carrots
• 4-6 fresh garlic cloves
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 Tbsps olive oil
• 2 Tbsps low sodium vegetable broth
• Curry powder
• Salt & pepper

NOTE: You will need one large oven safe pan, about 16×12 inches and an oven safe meat thermometer. I like the ones that you can insert and leave there while cooking so you don’t have to be opening the door to check. Check this thermometer link for a very inexpensive but great option! I previously used this before I got my current oven, which has a built in thermometer.

Directions

1. Set oven at 350ºF.
2. Rub chicken with curry powder, salt & pepper. Make sure you season all sides of each leg.
3. Cut garlic in small thin pieces. Using a pairing knife insert pieces of garlic all over the chicken, just like in the video.
4. Put the prepared chicken aside.
5. Cut up all the veggies, trying to keep them somewhat similar in size.
6. Mix olive oil and vegetable broth, pour over the veggies and toss to coat.
7. Season the veggies with salt & pepper and toss again.
8. Place the chicken legs on top of the veggies, insert an oven safe thermometer in one of the larger legs and cover the whole pan with aluminum sealing all edges.
9. Roast until the thermometer reaches 165ºF, which takes about an hour depending on your oven.
10. Once chicken reaches 165ºF take aluminum foil off. I like to test the temperature of the other chicken legs just to make sure they all reached the appropriate temperature. If they haven’t I put them back in the oven until they do.
11. If all legs have reached temperature, take the thermometer off and broil uncovered for 5-10 minutes, until legs are golden brown on top.
12. Take the pan out of the oven and serve each leg over a bed of veggies and enjoy!

NOTE: You can prepare the whole dish in advance (one day before max), cover it with aluminum foil and put in the refrigerator to cook later. Take it out of the fridge while the oven reaches temperature so the dish is not so cold when you put it in the oven, which would mean more cooking time.