Slow Roasted Chicken and Apple

This is a comforting dish that feels like it took much more time and skill than it really does! I always have some type of chicken in the freezer, usually drumsticks or thighs because I prefer the darker meat. When I was creating this recipe, I went with drumsticks and thighs because it was what I had on hand, but it can easily be substituted for chicken breast as well.

There are a few steps you need to do to get the dish started - slicing veggies and fruit, seasoning and searing the chicken, etc. But once that is all finished, you can really put it in the oven and forget about it for a while. For this dish, it helps to have a heavy bottomed and wide pan like this Enameled Cast Iron that can go both on the burner and in the oven. The one linked is what I used not only for this dish, but at least 50% of the time I am cooking so definitely a worthwhile purchase.

The ingredients you will need for this recipe are:

4 chicken drumsticks & 2 chicken thighs (or 6 of one type)

1 large honey crisp apple - cut 1/2 into thick slices and the other 1/2 into small chunks.

1 small sweet onion - finely diced

4 cloves of garlic - sliced into semi thick slivers

1/2 cup Chicken stock

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

1 lemon - 1/2 for juice, the other 1/2 cut into chunks

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons of Oregano (can also use Thyme or Italian seasoning)

salt and pepper to taste

• Pre-heat the oven to 275

• Season the chicken thoroughly with salt and black pepper

• Heat 1 tablespoon of EVOO in your pan until warmed, then add in your garlic gloves and sweet onion. Let them cook on medium/low heat for about 3-4 minutes, until softened

• Raise heat to medium-high and add in the chicken (can add in batches if the pan looks too crowded) Sear the chicken on one side for roughly 4-5 minutes, then flip and repeat. The goal here is to just brown the outsides, the chicken does not need to nor will it be fully cooked at this point, that is OK

• Pull out the seared chicken and set side, there will be lots of brown bits (also known as fond) This is the good stuff that will add lots of flavor to the end product. To help release this fond, deglaze by adding in the apple cider vinegar and the chicken stock. Use a wooden spoon and gently help scrape the bits up

• At this point, you can also add in the butter, Dijon mustard, oregano, juice from half of the lemon, and additional salt and pepper to taste as needed.

• Allow the sauce to gently simmer and reduce, give it at least 10 minutes.

• Once reduced, add the chicken back in, along with the other 1/2 of the lemon, diced into chunks and the diced and sliced apple (having some small diced bits will cook down into the sauce in the oven, the larger sliced chunks will stay more whole and can be served alongside the chicken once ready)

• Pop into the pre-heated oven and cook for about 1 hour - Cooked chicken should be at about 160 degrees when ready

• Turn the oven temp up to 450 (or you can use the broiler but watch VERY closely) for an additional 5-10 minutes, until you see everything has browned nicely

• Remove from the oven, allow to cool and serve with your favorite grain and vegetable

I served this over a bed of couscous with roasted zucchini and topped it with finely diced leek. You could also top with fresh parsley or fresh oregano. Be sure to get some pieces of apple and garlic on the plate and spoon some of the pan sauce overtop as well.

This dish has such a wow factor with complex flavors that come from simple ingredients. Give it a try and let me know what you think!