Chicken is often on the dinner table at my home here in California. Chicken also was popular at my house while growing up here in the U.S., and overseas in Mexico City, Switzerland and Paris. My mother, who’s Swiss and a great cook, prepared it many ways. My favorite: roast chicken. When I was a kid, my mom would make me roast chicken, peas and rice for my birthday dinner. It was fabulous.
Here’s another take on roast chicken – one with a Mediterranean twist. It relies on extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and other Mediterranean-inspired ingredients such as rosemary and capers. Endives give yet another flavor boost.
It comes from a cookbook we’ve mentioned before: “Olive Oil: From Tree to Table,” by Peggy Knickerbocker (Chronicle Books, 2007). We’ve already posted her great EVOO recipes for halibut and “tattooed” roasted potatoes.
The chicken dish is a crowd pleaser. But you don’t have to wait for company to try it.
Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Capers, and Endive
Serves 4
1 chicken, 3 to 3 ½ pounds
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 or more cloves garlic
6 Belgian endives, ends trimmed and halved length-wise
1 pound small red potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed
1 large fresh rosemary sprig
3 tablespoons salt-cured capers, rinsed and drained
Preheat an over to 450 degrees F. Rinse the chicken inside and out, pat dry, and place in a large roasting pan. Rub the chicken with the olive oil and drizzle with the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter the garlic, endive, and potatoes around the bird. Put the rosemary sprig in the cavity.
Roast for 45 minutes. Scatter the capers around the chicken in the pan juices and continue to roast until a leg wiggles easily (or juices run clear when a thigh is pierced), about 15 minutes longer.
Transfer the chicken to a warmed serving platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables from the pan and arrange around the chicken. Skim off and discard the fat from the pan juices. Pour the remaining juices, along with the capers, over the chicken. Carve and serve.
Bon appétit,
Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch
