The weather has turned, the leaves are changing color and falling.  Sundays are often our days that my husband or I make a more elaborate or time consuming meal in the cooler months as the summers are picnics at the town green or back yard barbecues.  Though we often go to church in the morning and cub scouts on some Sunday afternoons, there isn’t the same daily rush.  There’s no school, no work (well, unfortunately not lately for my husband), no homework, usually no client meetings, just violin practice.  This is one of my favorite fall/winter dinners:  a whole roasted chicken with root vegetables.  It takes quite some time to prep— peeling, cutting, chopping, but really the final result is heaven at home.  The boys love it but might not eat each and every vegetable.  They seem to like more and more the more often we have it. 

Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

• One whole chicken
• 10-12 baby potatoes either whole or cut in half (depending on size), leave skin on
• 5 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-3 inch chunks
• 5 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2-3 inch chunks
• 5 small purple topped turnips, peeled and cut in half (I couldn’t get any, but usually use them)
• 2-3 sweet potatoes, quartered, leave skin on
• handful of whole garlic cloves, peeled
• half large onion sliced
• handful of pearl onions or shallots
• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme (strip from stems first)
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2-3 celery stalks with leaves

Preheat oven to 425F.  Rinse and pat dry chicken.  In large bowl coat chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper and half the chopped thyme.  Stuff cavity with celery and onion ends, trim to fit. Place onion slices in the center of a roasting pan in a single layer.  Place chicken on top.  In bowl take several groups of vegetables and coat with olive oil, remaining thyme, salt and pepper.  Place around chicken. 

Roast for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 350F.  Roast for at least and hour.  (If the vegetables are crowding the chicken you can roast some on a separate cookie sheet on the rack beneath the chicken. It’s also nice to separate the vegetables from chicken pan about 20 minutes before done, so they get slightly crispy. So they roast evenly, I like to turn vegetables every 20 minutes or so, but that’s optional— once is good. )  It’s done when temperature of thigh is 165F. If it just under it should be ok as it will cook a little more when you take it out to rest.  When chicken is ready, place on cutting board for 10 minutes to rest before carving.  I don’t make a gravy or sauce since I find it’s so tasty on it’s own it’s unnecessary.  Stuffing the cavity will help breast retain juiciness. 

This is a win-win dish for the whole family.  Comforting home cooked meal on a chilly evening.  Savor the time you have with the kids.  One good thing— though it takes some time to prepare and more time to cook, it’s easy to clean up and you have some time while it’s in the oven to play.