Crispy Chicken Breasts and Roasted Veggies

This is one of our all-time favorite meals - chicken with roasted vegetables. This is a bit of a variation on the usual roasted whole chicken, using just a breast (or actually, preferably a thigh).

You want the breast or thigh with the skin on, and bone in. If you can't find them that way at your market, you can always just buy a whole chicken, cut out the thighs and breast, and use the rest for stock or something else.

This is a really simple recipe, and one of those things I can pretty much eat anytime and enjoy it.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast or thigh per person
• 3/4 lb brussels sprouts
• 3/4 lb new potatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F (204 C).
2. Cut the potatoes in quarters, and place in a large bowl. Drizzle in a bit of olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste, and then toss the potatoes lightly to coat them.
3. Spread the potatoes out on about half of a baking sheet, and place in the oven.
4. Cut off about 1/8 inch (about 3.5mm) from the stem end of each brussels sprout, and then cut in half lenth-wise.
5. Place the cut brussels sprouts in the same bowl the potatoes were in, add a little bit more oil, salt and pepper, and again toss them lightly until coated.
6. Add brussels sprouts to the other half of the baking sheet in the oven.
7. For the chicken, an enameled cast-iron skillet works best, but a non-stick skillet will also work. Heat the dry skillet over medium heat, until the chicken sizzles if you touch it to the pan, then place each thigh or breast skin-down in the skillet.
8. Let the chicken cook this way for 4-5 minutes, then cover the skillet, and let cook until some liquid has built up in the bottom of the skillet, then remove the lid to let the liquid evaporate, then re-cover. You want to cover the chicken to let the steam cook the side of the chicken that isn't touching the skillet, but you don't want so much water to build up that you ruin the nice, crispy skin on the bottom.
   
9. While your chicken is cooking, check on the vegetables in the oven and make sure they are not burning, you just want them to crisp up nicely on the outside, and stay soft in the middle. You may need to remove the brussels sprouts before the potatoes, depending on how you like them cooked.
10. Repeat this covering and uncovering until the chicken is as done as you like it (cooking times will vary depending on whether you are using breasts or thighs, and exactly how hot your stove is, what kind of skillet you are using, etc).
11. Remove the vegetables from the oven and let them cool a bit.
12. Place one chicken breast/thigh per plate, and surround with the roasted vegetables.
13. Keep the skillet on the stove over medium heat, deglaze the skillet with some (maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup) wine, scrape up as much of the browned chicken from the pan as you can, and cook the wine and drippings from the chicken down until they thicken and form a nice sauce.
14. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken and vegetables, and serve immediately.