Roast Chicken and Potatoes - Greek Recipe
I've become addicted to the Greek cuisine and I love to read foreign blogs on Greek recipes "stolen" from Greek mothers, mothers-in-law, aunts and grandmothers. Two days ago, I came across this version of roast chicken and potato recipe, which in Greek is called "Kotopoulo Sto Fourno". I could feel the smell through the computer, it was too good, I couldn't help myself and I had to try it as soon as possible. So, yesterday morning, I bought a chicken and in the evening we were enjoying a most delicious dinner. I managed to impress my family again and with minimal effort! Chicken was crispy and tasty and the potatoes were so soft and savoury that the kids couldn't stop eating...
The recipe is very simple and what surprises me is the oregano flavour, I'm a big fan of oregano since I've started cooking Greek recipes and I recommend having it in your spice box. For the vegetarian version, you can find the Lemon Greek Potatoes recipe on my website, with no meat, but very good and flavourful.
First, thoroughly wash and clean the chicken, then place it breast down in a deep baking tray.
The tray should be big enough for the chicken to fit in and for the amount of potatoes. Mine was big, so I used 2 kilos of potatoes, if yours is smaller, use 1 kilo.
Take a big garlic head, remove the outer skin, clean well and wash. I carefully pulled away some skins between the cloves, without separating the cloves from the head. Stuff the garlic head inside the chicken.
Peel and wash the poatatoes, cut into wedges and arrange in the baking tray around the chicken.
Drizzle olive oil over the chicken and potatoes.
Pour the wine and the water over the potatoes.
Squeeze the juice from half a lemon over the potatoes.
Season the chicken and the potatoes with salt.
Sprinkle oregano over chicken and potatoes.
And this was it!
Bake the chicken without a lid on in the preheated oven to 180 degrees C for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, chicken looks like this, there will be some water and juice in the baking sheet, it's OK. If it's too dry, add half of cup of water.
Carefully, using 2 forks, turn chicken breast up.
Return to the oven for an additional 40 minutes, until chicken is roasted to a fine golden colour. Brush chicken periodically with the fat from the baking sheet, this way, it will roast evenly.
This is what it looks like when it's ready, I transfered chicken and potatoes to a plate (if you already cooked it in a glass or ceramic baking dish, you don't have to necessarily transfer it).
Drizzle all the remaining oil from the tray over chicken and potatoes and leave to rest for about 15 minutes before serving.
Don't forget about the baked garlic from inside the chicken. Remove carefully, spoon the soft content, mix it with a bit of remaing oil from the tray and brush the chicken with it. I would even recommend using 2 garlic heads, it's way too good!
We had a lovely dinner, we savoured the chicken to the last bite, it was just finger licking :))
Enjoy!
