Baked Whole Greek Chicken and Veggies

 

Here's an experimental dish I fixed one night. It turned out extremely tasty, but I have figured out what I will need to do the next go around. Every time Andy fixed Classic Greek Chicken, we commented that we would have to try the rub on a drunk chicken and see how it turned out. I had eyeballed the Bundt cake pan and got the idea to put the chicken on the center part of the pan and surround it with veggies.
For the most part, it turned out great. This was a pretty big chicken (3.5 lbs.); next time I'll stick with a smaller one. The vegetables were painfully slow cooking, and when I checked the internal temp, the breast area after two hours, it measured 170 degrees but the bottom measured 140 degrees. I believe the vegetables insulated that area too much. Next time I will put the veggies in first and sit the chicken on top! I removed the chicken from the pan and placed it on a baking sheet. It took another 30 minutes for it to finish cooking. Unbelievably, this was still a very moist chicken when it was finally done!


Speaking of the painfully slow cooking veggies, I dumped them in a pot, poured all the juices on top and added water until they were covered. They boiled for an additional 20 minutes. Oh, my gosh! The taste was incredible.

Again, this was only a test, but here are my recommended do overs:

1. Use a smaller chicken.
2. Place veggies in the bottom of the pan so the chicken sits up on top of them and gets all the heat.
3. Add 8-12 oz. water* to bottom of the pan to assist in veggie cooking time.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 whole chicken
• Potatoes peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 small bag of baby carrots
• 1 large onion cut into thick slices
• 5 tsps. olive oil
• Juice of 2 lemons (about 4 tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. Lawry's Garlic Salt
• 1 tbsp. Oregano
• 1 tsp. onion salt
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place veggies in the bottom of a Bundt cake pan. Set chicken on top.

Mix salt, pepper, onion salt and garlic salt together in a small dipping bowl.

Add oregano and blend all spices well.

Drizzle lemon juice over chicken and then drizzle olive oil. Rub chicken down with spices. Sprinkle a little over the veggies. Add one cup of water to the vegetables*

Place in preheated oven. Check the internal temperature after one and a half hours. It should measure 165 degrees in the meatiest part. Depending on the size chicken you use, it can take a minimum of 1-1/2 hours to 2-1/2 hours.

Even if the veggies are nice and tender, that quick boil I gave them in the juices and additional water really ramped up the flavor. I believe I will still keep that step for the next go around.