roasted chicken with caramelized shallots

I’ve always liked Saturday dinners to be special – more meat-oriented and complex than our usual weeknight vegetarian one-bowl dinners. On Saturday, it’s not uncommon that I’ll choose our wine first, and then decide what we’ll eat to go with it. However, my days of spending hours preparing seven tiny courses are definitely on hold.

Now I try to choose dishes that can be almost completely prepped in advance, in hopes that Dave and I get to eat at the same time and without listening to a tired baby whine. This worked out perfectly with this dish, because I got the chicken ready to bake in the afternoon, then when the baby woke up from her evening catnap, I put it in the oven to roast while I fed her.

It also helps that “prepped in advance” took less than ten minutes. Such a small amount of effort resulted in a dish with plenty of flavor. It was definitely worthy of a special Saturday night dinner – and the wine didn’t hurt either.

Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Shallots (from Susan Herrmann Loomis’s French Farmhouse Cookbook via Elly Says Opa)

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 shallots, peeled & sliced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
minced parsley for garnish

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a baking dish big enough to fit the chicken in a single layer, combine the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken and turn to coat with the shallot mixture. Arrange the chicken skin-side up.

2. Transfer to the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over, coating them again with the shallot mixture. Continue to roast until the shallots are caramelized and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a chicken breast reads 165 degrees, about 20 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let rest about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Save