Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, about 4 to 5 pounds, patted very dry
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Everyday House Blend, or 1 teaspoon each paprika, granulated garlic, and dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for the vegetables
- 2 large yellow onions, cut into thick wedges
- 2 cups artichoke hearts, quartered, frozen and thawed or jarred in water and drained well
- 1 cup green olives, pitted, rinsed and patted dry
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme and a small handful of parsley
Method
- Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Pull the chicken out of the fridge while it heats so it loses the deep chill.
- Dry the chicken again, inside and out. This is the step people skip and it is the step that gives you crisp skin. Rub it all over with 1 tablespoon of the oil, then the house blend and the salt, getting some under the breast skin if you can.
- Toss the onions, artichokes, olives, and garlic with the remaining oil and a good pinch of salt. Spread them in a heavy roasting pan or a large cast iron skillet and tuck in the thyme.
- Set the chicken on top of the vegetables, breast up. Roast at 425 for 20 minutes to set the skin.
- Drop the oven to 350 and roast another 50 to 60 minutes, until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees. If the vegetables look dry at any point, stir them into the fat at the bottom of the pan.
- Move the chicken to a board and let it rest a full 15 minutes. Do not skip this either. While it rests, stir the vegetables around in the pan juices and taste for salt.
- Carve, shower the whole thing with chopped parsley, and serve straight from the pan.
Notes from my kitchen
On the artichokes. Buy them packed in water, never in a vinegar based marinade. Frozen quartered hearts are the most reliable option and they brown better than jarred, as long as you thaw and dry them first.
On the olives. Rinse them. Most brined olives carry more acid and salt than you want in a pan sauce, and a quick rinse under cold water takes the edge off without losing the flavor.
Why no tomatoes are needed. The onions collapse into the chicken fat and go sweet, the artichokes go nutty at the edges, and the olives bring the salt. That combination does everything a tomato base would do and it does not fight the chicken.
Make it go further. Pull every scrap of meat off the bones before you go to bed, then put the carcass in a bag in the freezer. That is the start of the golden chicken and rice soup later in the week.
What to serve with it
- Hard roasted root vegetables, if you have a second oven rack free
- Plain rice or a pot of white beans, cooked ahead and warmed in a spoonful of the pan fat
- A pile of parsley and cucumber, dressed with olive oil and salt only