Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Hi, I am Bonnie, Vicki’s mother.  I am glad I got to do this because I get to try some new recipes.  Here is the first one—the name of the recipe built up my hopes, but it was a bit disappointing, but we tried it.

 

Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

 

6 Roma tomatoes (about 1 pound total)

3 medium zucchini (about ½ pound each)

1 bulb fennel (I used an onion from our garden since the grocery store had no fennel)

3 Tbs. olive oil

¾ tsp salt

4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed (about 2 ½ pounds)

4 cloves garlic finely minced (about 4 tsps.)

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dried, crumbled.

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the tomatoes lengthwise into quarters and remove the seeds.  Trim the zucchini tips and cut in half crosswise.  Then cut each piece in half lengthwise twice if the piece is thin and three times if its thicker, so that the pieces are relatively uniform.  Remove the outermost layer of the fennel bulb and discard.  Cut the bulb in half so that each half retains part of the stem end.  Cut each half into 8 thin wedges so each wedge is held together by a little piece of stem.   Put the vegetables in a large baking dish.  Toss them with 2 Tbs of the oil and ¼ tsp of the salt.  Arrange the chicken pieces in the pan with the vegetables.  

 

In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1 Tbs oil and ½ tsp salt, the garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Rub the mixture into the chicken in the pan and season with pepper to taste.  Roast for 30 minutes, then give the vegetables a stir and add the rosemary.  Return to the oven and roast until the chicken is just cooked all the way through and the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, 15 to 25 minutes more.  

 

Yield: 4 servings Per serving (1 piece of chicken and 1 ½ cups vegetables) = 410 calories.  

 

My husband and I both ate a breast, but only about a quarter cup of vegetables, but we added some frozen corn which had 70 calories per serving which was 2/3 cup, so I think this probably equaled out to the 410 calories still.

 

We gave this a 7.  The vegetables were good, especially the zucchini, but since I don’t like cooked tomatoes, that brought the dish down.  Even with the spices the chicken was very bland and rather tough for chicken breasts.