Farmers' Market Friday - Sweet and Spicy {Indian-Spiced Oven-Roasted Chicken with Onions & Cumin Roasted Carrots}

This recipe has been a family favorite since I happened upon it several years ago and decided to give it a try.  It has Indian-inspired flavors, makes enough for leftovers and utilizes oven-roasting for the majority of the meal. I love "sheet-pan" dinners as they require a little bit of prep work at the start and then you pop them in the oven and get on with eating bonbons doing something else while it cooks. The original recipe entails a yogurt based marinade that we all enjoy. However, when I set out to make it this time, I realized that I had everything except the plain yogurt. So, being resourceful, I peeked in my pantry and found a jar of mango chutney that I'd picked up from the farmers' market a while back and decided that it would be just the thing to use in a pinch. It proved to be a tasty edit and one that I might just use all of the time now!

Items from the market: 

• carrots
• chicken
• mango chutney from Kala's Kuisine
• olive oil from Central Texas Olive Ranch

Indian-Spiced Oven-Roasted Chicken & Onions 

adapted from Maria Sinskey

• 4 lbs of chicken (either one whole chicken cut into 8 pieces or 4 lbs of one cut - I prefer to use all thighs for their juiciness and tenderness)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp garam masala (an Indian spice mixture available in the spice section of most supermarkets)
• 2 medium onions; cut into 1/4"slices
• 4-6 oz  mango chutney sauce

1. In a large bowl, mix chutney, oil and garam masala. Add chicken to marinade, one piece at a time to coat well. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours up to 24 hrs.
2. Position oven racks in the top & bottom third of oven (chicken and carrots will cook at same time.) Preheat oven to 400F. 
3. On a large rimmed sheet pan lined with foil, arrange onion slices. These will form a bed for the chicken pieces. Top with chicken in a single layer. Be sure to leave space between chicken pieces to allow for even roasting. Chicken will be coated in sauce; top each piece with a bit of the residual sauce in the bowl.
4. Roast chicken on top rack until cooked through and juices run clear in thickest part of the chicken pieces (about 1 hr.) Serve chicken atop onion slices and spoon pan juices on top. (Note: the sugars in the sauce will brown - check browness occasionally through cooking process and tent with a sheet of foil if they are getting too dark. You want brown and crisp; not black and acrid.)

Cumin-Roasted Carrots

• 12 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 in thick diagonal cuts
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Combine carrots and all other ingredients in a large bowl; toss to coat. Line a large, rimmed sheet pan with foil and spread seasoned carrots in a single layer on the baking sheet.
2. Roast carrots (on bottom rack if cooking with chicken) until tender and lightly browned for about 35-40 minutes (turn carrots once at halfway point).

Putting it all together: We served the roasted chicken and carrots with steamed brown rice. Top the rice with the onions and pan juice and you have a delicious dinner. Leftovers are great as is or if you have some flat bread, you can cut the chicken meat from the bone and make a wrap of chicken and left over carrots and onions. A nice way to change it up and make it seem like a whole new meal.

The substitution of the mango chutney from Kala's Kuisine was a great one. It is sweet and tangy with just the tiniest bit of spice. I'm going to be sure to grab a couple more jars to have on hand the next time I'm at the farmers' market. It is a rather loose sauce - more loose than other commercially available mango chutney. So, if you don't have access to this one, you may need to thin the one you get a bit.

Happy Cooking!

sld

Disclosure: I was invited by Wolf Ranch Farmer's Market to visit and meet the vendors and was provided Market Money with which to purchase ingredients for use in the Farmers' Market Friday posts.  I was not compensated to write this article and all opinions are my own.

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