Roasted Garlic Chicken and Garlic Sauce.... Amazingly good!
This Post-Blog was first done back in January of 2010:
Wow... We've come a long way baby!!
Original Post:
This Paleo "thing" has turned out to be a lot more fun and quite a bit easier than I had originally thought. I originally had nightmares of "zone challenge" past and was anticipating anxiety attacks and melt downs (again!). For those of you who weren't around for the '09 Challenge, We "Zoned"... Let's just say.. Susan wasn't meant to Zone.. She was meant to Hunt and Gather Paleo Style.
Turns out it's pretty darn simple! Protein, some carbs and some fats......when your hungry....simple! Of course it is a tad bit more complicated than that, but if you're thinking about going Paleo or are looking for more information on Paleo, then I suggest you do some homework and read up on the subject.........sorry, not gonna do it for ya!
But, I will share my recipes, my successes and my failures (yep, I have those!). Along with some links to other great sources that I have stumbled upon during my journey.
Well, Here goes, my first Recipe to Share!
Disclaimer: I don't measure......so you'll have to "wing" it! :-) I can't take full credit for this recipe, I took part of it from a cookbook and tweaked it to make it Paleo.
Ingredients:
Whole "organic" Free range chicken (no cages allowed!)
Garlic/parsley seasoning from Costco, it's just garlic powder and dried parsley (or garlic powder will work)
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Lemon
1 or 2 whole heads of unpeeled garlic (depends on how much you like garlic, I use 1 1/2)
1 stalk of celery
A couple of carrots
half of small red onion
parsley, if desired
Arrowroot (use about 1/3 as much as you would if you were to use cornstarch or flour to thicken a sauce)
Asparagus (or any other veggies you want)
Pre heat oven to 400 degrees, while preparing:
Do the normal "wash n rinse" on the Chicken, Trim excess fat
take out inards (cook in a saucepan and give em to the animals!)
Slice off top quarter of each garlic head to expose the cloves. separate and discard loose papery skin, but don't peel the clove. Put half of the cloves in the cavity of the chicken.
Sprinkle seasonings inside cavity as well and place a lemon wedge or two in there. (tie ends of legs together with string, if you want, I don't)
Rub remaining seasoning on the outside of the chicken and drizzle with juice from remaining lemon wedges.
Coarsely chop your veggies to be roasted and place around the chicken along with remaining garlic cloves.
Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes covered. remove cover and continue baking for 15 - 30 minutes (or until internal temp is 180 degrees)
Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes or so.
Prepare Asparagus or other veggies as you normally would
Meanwhile, remove garlic cloves from in and around the chicken. Gently squeeze the flesh from the skins and mash in a saucepan.
Remove Roasted Veggies, cover and set aside
Strain juices from roasting pan into saucepan with the mashed garlic.
drain off fat from juices
Add seasonings (if you want, I usually add fresh ground pepper and a bit of parsley)
use a tad bit of water and mix in the Arrowroot.
(this will work as a thickening agent for more of a light gravy consistency)
Boil over medium heat, just until it begins to thicken a bit. (stir frequently)
Carve Chicken ( or rip it to shreds like the caveman would have)
Serve with Garlic sauce drizzled over chicken and veggies.
I didn't break down into blocks.....we are doing paleo, but if you're zoning, you know how to weigh and measure! The scale is my enemy!!
PS: I place this in the oven (my oven has a delayed start option) on my way out the door to work out, so it's pretty much done when I return home, just have to prepare the veggies and the sauce.
Note: The Picture featured above is from the cookbook: Green Beans are not a recommended Paleo food.
