I have to give all the credit to my husband on this one. He made this melt-in-your-mouth delicious dinner last week and I’m already requesting that he make it again. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have a husband who loves to cook as much as I do. His specialties are grilling, breakfast scrambles + hashes, and he makes a mean batch of chicken wings [recipes will be up on the blog eventually!]. As much as I love to cook, I also like to take the evening off; so when I can come home from work and have a healthy dinner on the table, I’ll take it. I’ll just make sure to offer up dish duty.

So I have to brag on my husband just a little more. The photos you see throughout the post..they were all staged by him. Even the way he arranged the garlic, onion, rosemary, lemon + butter on the cutting board in the picture below. Yep, he did that. He sure made my job easy that night. Now I just have to get him to do it more often.

[herbs + aromatics.]

For Christmas this year the one thing on my wish list was a dutch oven. Since having it I can’t imagine life without it! Don’t know what a dutch oven is? It’s basically a large pot [usually cast iron] that can be used in a variety of ways, from making soups and stews to searing meat to cooking veggies or rice. It can be used on the stovetop or the oven as well. Essentially it can be used in place of most of the pots you already have. But why would you want a dutch oven? Thanks for asking! Because it’s awesome…and it’s designed to cook evenly, retain heat and lock in the moisture + flavor of your food. Plus they come in a variety of different colors. It’s definitely become my go-to piece of cookware in 2015.

Check out the full recipe + directions below.

p.s. You don’t have to have a dutch oven to make this recipe either. A large pan will do just fine.

Dutch Oven Chicken + Roasted Vegetables

Servings: 4 – 6

Ingredients [chicken]:

• about 2 pounds of chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp organic butter
• Juice from ½ lemon
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

[seasoned raw chicken thighs.]

Mmmm. Raw chicken. Not my favorite thing to work with, but one of my favorite things to eat when cooked. I love chicken thighs because they are juicy + flavorful. I always make it a priority to choose the highest quality meats that I can, in this case organic, free-range chicken thighs. This way I can be sure I’m not consuming any added hormones, steroids or antibiotics from a conventionally-raised animal being fed GMO or genetically-modifed grains [i.e. not their natural diet]. When transitioning to a healthy lifestyle it’s important that you look at the quality of the food you’re eating. And if you’re a meat eater, animal-protein is the first place to start buying organic.

Directions [chicken]:

Season the raw chicken with sea salt, black pepper and dried oregano on both sides. Heat dutch oven [or another oven safe cooking pot] on stove to medium heat. Add olive oil + butter. Once butter has melted, add onion + garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes until fragrant and tender. Add chicken and whole rosemary sprigs to dutch oven. Sear chicken on one side for about 7 minutes until it reaches a golden brown color. Flip and sear other side for another 7 minutes. Squeeze lemon onto chicken, place lid on dutch oven, turn heat to low and let cook for another 5-10 minutes until chicken is completely cooked through [depending on the size + thickness of your chicken, you may have to cook longer]. Once done, remove the stems of rosemary [some of the rosemary leaves will have fallen off in the process, so just remove the woody stem part]. Serve with a side of roasted veggies.

Tasty tip: before serving take a bit of the cooking “juices” from the bottom of the dutch oven and pour over broccoli, squash + onion mixture.

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Ingredients [roasted veggies]:

• 1 small butternut squash, peeled + cubed
• 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 -2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper [optional, for spice]

[peeled + cubed butternut squash.]

Directions [roasted veggies]:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add broccoli, butternut squash and onion onto foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, pepper + cayenne pepper [if using]. Using hands, coat all veggies well with oil and spices. Roast in oven for 30-35 minutes until tender [stirring occasionally]. You can broil the veggies for the last few minutes to get a slight char. Remove from oven and serve with chicken. This recipe makes quite a bit of veggies, so feel free to load up on veggies with dinner or save the leftovers which are just as good the next day.

[dig in.]

Roasting veggies is one of my favorite ways to eat vegetables, and in my opinion, is one of the tastiest! In this dish, the vegetables were roasted just long enough to get that crispy char that tastes so good. And the pairing of sweet butternut squash with broccoli + onion makes the perfect side dish. I like adding in a starchy veggie like butternut squash with my dinners instead of using grains, like rice or pasta all the time [great for those of you who follow a Paleo diet].

Look at that charred goodness in the bottom of the dutch oven. That’s where flavor is made, and it’s why this chicken tastes oh so delicious. The excess liquid and bits of garlic + onion at the bottom of the dutch oven gets poured onto the roasted veggies before serving. That stuff is much too good to go to waste.

This meal is perfectly balanced with protein [chicken], starch [butternut squash], veggies [broccoli, onion, garlic] and healthy fats [organic butter + olive oil]. And it’s loaded with flavor.

And the finished product! I have to tell you too that this dish tasted just as good for lunch leftovers the next day. It’s like the flavors had a chance to marinate and get even more flavorful. I ended up cutting up some of the leftover chicken and adding it to mixed greens with a good helping of the roasted veggies. The combo of cooked veggies, fresh crisp veggies [salad greens] and leftover chicken is oh so good. Just top with a little homemade vinaigrette or drizzle some olive oil, lemon, sea salt + pepper and lunch is served. I love taking leftovers and making them something a little different by making it into a salad. That way I get it even more veggies too. So it’s a win-win.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Let me know by commenting below.

Dutch Oven Chicken + Roasted Vegetables

 

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Author: Angela Freed

Recipe type: Chicken

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• Ingredients [chicken]:
• about 2 pounds of chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp organic butter
• Juice from ½ lemon
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• Ingredients [roasted veggies]:
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled + cubed
• 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 -2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper [optional, for spice]

Instructions

1. Directions [chicken]: Season the raw chicken with sea salt, black pepper and dried oregano on both sides. Heat dutch oven [or another oven safe cooking pot] on stove to medium heat. Add olive oil + butter. Once butter has melted, add onion + garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes until fragrant and tender. Add chicken and whole rosemary sprigs to dutch oven. Sear chicken on one side for about 7 minutes until it reaches a golden brown color. Flip and sear other side for another 7 minutes. Squeeze lemon onto chicken, place lid on dutch oven, turn heat to low and let cook for another 5-10 minutes until chicken is completely cooked through [depending on the size + thickness of your chicken, you may have to cook longer]. Once done, remove the stems of rosemary [some of the rosemary leaves will have fallen off in the process, so just remove the woody stem part]. Serve with a side of roasted veggies.
2. Tasty tip: before serving take a bit of the cooking “juices” from the bottom of the dutch oven and pour over broccoli, squash + onion mixture.
3. Directions [roasted veggies]: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add broccoli, butternut squash and onion onto foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, pepper + cayenne pepper [if using]. Using hands, coat all veggies well with oil and spices. Roast in oven for 30-35 minutes until tender [stirring occasionally]. You can broil the veggies for the last few minutes to get a slight char. Remove from oven and serve with chicken. This recipe makes quite a bit of veggies, so feel free to load up on veggies with dinner or save the leftovers which are just as good the next day.

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