What's for dinner!!

This baked chicken recipe is one of those recipes that every home cook should have in their menu planner. It uses a minimal amount of ingredients - chicken, olive oil, salt and pepper - and if you want gravy, chicken stock or white wine) - and is especially useful on those busy days when you are just too busy to get creative. My mother makes this chicken about once a month and usually serves it with mango chutney and Spanish rice.  It is also great with asparagus or broccoli.

Classic Baked Chicken Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of chicken {I like a mixture: 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings}
• Olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup of chicken stock or white wine for the gravy

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Rinse chicken pieces in water and pat dry with paper towels. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil. Rub some olive oil over all of the chicken pieces in the roasting pan. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Arrange the pieces skin-side up in the roasting pan so the largest pieces are in the center and there is a little room between pieces so they aren't crowded in the pan.

2. Cook for 30 minutes at 400°F. Then lower the heat to 350°F and cook for 10-30 minutes more (approximately 14 to 15 minutes per pound total cooking time) until juices run clear (not pink) when poked with a sharp knife or the internal temperature of the chicken breasts is 165°F and the thighs 170°. If your chicken pieces aren't browning to your satisfaction, I like to brush on a little butter and put them under the broiler for the last 5 minutes of cooking, until browned sufficiently.

3. Remove roasting pan from oven. Remove chicken from roasting pan to a serving plate. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

4. To make gravy for the chicken, take the roasting pan with its drippings and place on a medium setting on the stove top. Use a metal spatula to scrape up the drippings stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add a quarter cup of white wine or chicken stock to the pan to help deglaze the drippings from the pan.

Pour the wine/stock and dripping mixture into a small saucepan and heat on medium high to reduce to desired thickness. If you like your gravy super-thick, add a tablespoon of gravy flour and whisk.

What I love about this simple fail-safe method of preparing dinner - is that it provides me extra time to work around the house since the total cooking time is roughly 40 minutes. Most of the time when I serve this meal, I clean and prep the chicken early in the day - letting the olive oil, salt and pepper marinate the chicken pieces in a storage container. And the even easier part is that I get the kids to make the sides - Bon appetit!