Cast Iron Roasted Chicken

A very simple recipe, but it yields a really moist chicken with great flavor and pretty brown crispy skin. Serve it alongside some fresh vegetables like corn and green beans, and this makes for a simple, satisfying summer meal. Plus it's great for leftovers, since you can pick the leftover meat off for chicken salad and boil the bones to make chicken stock for future recipes.



Cast Iron Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, thawed (4-5 lbs)
1 russet potato, sliced into thick chunks
Salt
Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Rinse and dry your chicken thoroughly, removing the innards. The chicken should be as dry as possible so that the skin will crisp up nicely. Salt the chicken liberally all over. Use more salt than you think you'll need, especially on the breast regions where the salt will have to penetrate through a lot of meat. If you think you've salted enough, add a little more just to be sure. Place chicken in a cast-iron dutch oven.

Pour 1 tbsp olive oil into a bowl with the potato slices and stir so that the slices get coated. Place potato slices in dutch oven around chicken, poking them down to get them as close to the bottom of the pot as possible.

Cook for 1 hr 15 minutes UNCOVERED, then check the chicken. Return to oven and cook for between 5 and 30 minutes more as necessary (mine usually take about 1 1/2 hrs all told). Before serving, check the meat temperature of the chicken to make sure it's above 160F.

To serve, lift the chicken out of the dutch oven and arrange on a platter, surrounded by the potatoes.

Serves: 6-8 if you intend to eat all the chicken in one sitting. I make this one for 4 though, then use the leftover meat for a quick meal the next day.