Greek Lemon Chicken With Potatoes

Lemony-herbal chicken that roasts painlessly...oven-roasted garlicky potatoes - crisp on the outside, butter-soft on the inside. This recipe never receives anything but raves!

• Ready In: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• Chicken

• 1  large chicken
• 1  lemon, juice of
• 3⁄4 tablespoon dried oregano (if you can get the Greek stuff, you're really cooking!)
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 2  garlic cloves, minced

• Potatoes

• 5 -6  large potatoes, peeled and cut into big wedges (probably 1/4s)
• 1  lemon, juice of
• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 -3  minced garlic cloves

Directions

1. (I often add about 1 tsp of crumbled, dried rosemary to the potatoes and 1/2 a teaspoon to the chicken- this is fantastic and it then becomes oregano-rosemary-lemon-garlic chicken).
2. Wash the chicken well and pat dry.
3. Combine all the remaining ingredients and massage the chicken, inside and out, with this mixture. Put the chicken in a big bowl and put in the fridge while you prepare the potatoes.
4. Put the potatoes and all remaining ingredients into a large baking pan. Wash your hands and put them in the pan and toss the potatoes around to coat with other ingredients.
5. Put in the oven and crank up the heat to 250°C (480F).
6. Start roasting the potatoes and when they're golden-brown, stir them to bring the white sides up and push to the side of the pan to make room in the middle for the chicken.
7. If all the water has evaporated, and potatoes have started to stick to pan, add 1/2 cup more.
8. Add the chicken, breast-side down, and pour any juices that have accumulated in bowl over.
9. Return to very hot oven and roast until chicken is golden-brown.
10. Turn over, breast-side up and continue roasting until chicken is nearly as golden-brown on other side.
11. At this point, I turn the oven off- don't open it- and leave the chicken in for another 1/2 an hour. I like to think I'm saving energy this way, but it also cooks the chicken beautifully.
12. In all, I'd say from when you put the potatoes into the cold oven to when you remove the chicken to carve after sitting in off oven for 1/2 an hour, we're talking 2 hours.
13. Serve with pan juices.