We usually associate a festive meal with a lot of work and money. We want to impress our family and friends, and come up with something special that is not part of our usual menu. We spend a lot of time looking for just the right recipe that would impress, be delicious, and is different from what we’re used to. But who says the dish has to be complicated and expensive? Sometimes the answer is to turn ordinary ingredients into a beautiful dish without much effort. The following recipe does just that. All it calls for are chicken, potatoes, and sweet potatoes – not very exotic, right? But look how impressive and yummy it looks when you serve it. I can assure you no one at the table will complain (except for vegetarians).
The recipe below is good for one chicken, but as you can see from the pictures, I doubled it to accommodate the large company we had over.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
5 medium potatoes
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tbs paprika
1 tbs chicken flavor soup powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp papper
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt (for the potatoes)
1 oven bag (found in every supermarket)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Rinse the chicken and discard of the giblets (sometimes it all comes in one bag, easy to dispose).
In a large bowl mix all the spices (use only 1 tsp salt). Add the chicken and rub it with the spice mix inside and out, making sure you cover the whole chicken with spices. Place the chicken in the bag.
Peel the potatoes and sweet potatoes and cut them into 1” thick slices. Place them in the un-rinsed large bowl, add the onion, olive oil and 1 tsp salt, and mix well. The potatoes will be covered with some of the spice mix that was left in the bowl from the chicken. Add the potatoes to the bag, and arrange nicely around and under the chicken.
Seal the bag using the string provided with the bag. Using a knife, pierce two holes on the top of the bag, to let the steam out. Place the bag on a baking pan and bake in the preheated oven for about one and a half hours. Remove the pan from the oven. Using a knife, cut the top of the bag open, then return the pan to the oven to brown for 10-15 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and place on a nice serving dish with a rim (to collect the sauce). discard of the bag and place the whole chicken on top of the potatoes
This dish goes well with a salad composed of green leaves and lettuce, and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
Bon Appetit!
