Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots

If you haven’t heard, I’m quite the sucker for a roast chicken, especially on a Sunday night.   It’s a snap to make, but the results don’t seem that way at all.  Tender, juicy chicken with crispy skin? Yes, please!  I actually eased my way back into the kitchen with this recipe because, aside from slicing shallots, this is really all about throwing stuff into a pan and then throwing that pan into the oven.

The only thing I would change to this recipe next time would be to increase the amount of shallots.  They shrink down a lot when they caramelize, and I would have liked to have a few more bites of the soft, sweet shallots with the crispy-skinned chicken.  I roasted this for about 25 minutes skin side up, and then about 30 additional minutes after flipping, to make sure the largest pieces of chicken were all cooked through.  It turned out perfect.

Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots

Serves 4-6
French Farmhouse Cookbook /David Lebovitz

3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 (or more) shallots, peeled & sliced
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 generous handful of chopped, flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 425.

In a large baking dish or roasting pan, combine the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, and salt and pepper.   Toss the chicken pieces in the baking dish, coating with the mixture.  Turn the chicken pieces skin side up.

Roast the chicken for about 20-25 minutes,  until it starts to brown on top.  Turn the chicken pieces over, and scrape up any juices or shallots that may be clinging to the pan.  Roast an additional 20-30 minutes, or until all the pieces of chicken are cooked through and the shallots are well-caramelized.