Double Take: Spicy Roast Chicken from The Wednesday Chef

How about a nice place of Spicy Roast Chicken?

I have the tendency to spout the joys of roasted chicken. I will spare you that this time around because you heard it back in June. But rest assured. I’m still roasting chicken up a storm. Well, maybe not a storm since I didn’t have A/C, and the windows in the kitchen were placed so that the kitchen table gets the breeze rather than the cooking area. Grr.

But that all changes today! For the last month we've been transitioning from Germany back to the Winston-Salem, NC by way of Ireland, Georgia, and Texas. On Monday we made our final (for now) move to Winston-Salem, and today I am ready to open up the kitchen! I'm ridiculously excited. And even more excited that we got to move back into our old house so we knew where everything belonged when we started unpacking. Well, mostly. I realized today that I reversed my socks and undergarment drawers. Oops.

Today though, I want to highlight a recipe from a writer/blogger/cook currently living in Germany. She moved from NYC to Berlin a few months after I moved to Jena, and is currently writing a cookbook, tentatively titled “My Berlin Kitchen.” I’ll definitely be purchasing it when it comes out!

Luisa’s blog, The Wednesday Chef, is definitely a few steps above this one, but she also tends to post about recipes she’s read and tried, rather than developing her own recipes for the blog. She’s obviously a talented cook and does come up her own stuff, but her blog mostly focuses on other people’s recipes, like the one I’ll be sharing with you today.

She also has a Berlin blog: Berlin on a Platter. Check it out before you travel to Berlin!

I didn't manage to get 4 cups of tomatoes, but 3 was plenty. 

Spicy Roast Chicken
Serves 4
recipe by Sarah Tenaglia, Bon Appetit, March 2003

slightly adapted by The Wednesday Chef

24 ounces whole cherry tomatoes (about 4 cups), stemmed
1/4 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/4 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram, divided (or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, and none for garnish)
4 bone-in chicken breasts (10 to 12 ounces each) (I used a whole chicken, cut up)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper and 1 tablespoon marjoram in a large bowl to combine.

2. Place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the tomato mixture over the chicken, arranging the tomatoes in a single layer on the sheet around the chicken. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and the tomatoes are blistered, about 35 minutes.

3. Transfer the chicken to plates. Spoon the tomatoes and juices over the chicken. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon marjoram and serve.

THOUGHTS:

Oh, my, this is tasty chicken. Perfectly crisp on the outside, moist on the inside. The tomatoes were a lovely addition to the plate, if you like roasted tomatoes. Not all of my tasters cared for roasted tomatoes, but two out of the three of us ate every last one. This recipe is ridiculously easy to make, and yet it’s like a flavor party in your mouth. How often do you get that from so few ingredients? And yes, I've made it several times and we continue to love it!

VERDICT:

Make-again-and-again: 2 votes!

The-chicken-was-great-but-you-can-use-fewer-tomatoes-when-I’m-around: 1 vote!

Next time I might make sure to remove the garlic from the top of the
chicken to prevent it from burning. Maybe.

Head on over to Double the Garlic to see what Tabitha thought of Spicy Roast Chicken!

I think our First Lady would be pleased by the
vegetable to meat ratio on this plate.