Pioneer Chicken

Submitted by Secret Agent

"This recipe is something my Great Grandmother, Grandmother, Mother, and Aunts always made and I make it too. I call it Pioneer Chicken because it feeds Pioneers! This is a favorite when I cook for a crowd. It is easy to scale up or down and you can use the pieces of the chicken you like. The ratio of a serving is a piece of chicken, half of a russet and half of a sweet.Add a salad and you have a fantastic meal. Hope you like this homey Southern Italian style chicken."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 40mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 1 panfull
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 3 lbs chicken, cut into 8 pieces (when you cut the wings be sure to include a little breast meat with them)
• 2 potatoes, white russet, peeled
• 2 potatoes, sweet, peeled
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, fresh chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed, to flavor oil
• kosher salt
• cracked pepper
• 1 lemon, sliced thin
• olive oil

directions

1. Preheat oven to 325*.
2. Wash and dry chicken pieces.
3. Slice each potato into 4 long slices.
4. Saute the garlic in olive oil. Remove garlic and discard.
5. Brown chicken pieces well in olive oil but don't cook through. Remove to a dish and season with salt and pepper.
6. In a baking dish, alternate a piece of chicken, a slice of sweet potato, a slice of white potato and a few rings of onion. I usually stand them on edge so they are not flat in the pan.
7. Decorate the top of the chicken with the lemon slices and rosemary.
8. Cover with foil, tightly. Place baking pan on a sheet pan (it may boil over - I sometimes use a turkey baster to draw off the juices - save them and boil them down to make a nice sauce for the top) and bake for two hours or until the chicken is cooked through. Uncover and bake until it browns a little, 20 minutes or so. Save a wing for me!