For the main entrée—Chicken and Cremini Mushroom Traybake with Red Pepper Sauce—savory roasted mushrooms and a subtly sweet scallion-accented pan sauce are delicious accompaniments to crisp-skinned chicken seasoned with ground fennel, granulated garlic and dried oregano. Doesn’t that description just make your mouth water already?
If you can’t find ground fennel seed at the supermarket, grind your own by processing a generous 1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds in a spice grinder until fine and powdery. And don’t feel that you need to roast your own peppers for this recipe. Just use jarred roasted peppers, they’ll work perfectly well. (A 7.75-ounce jar contained exactly 2 whole roasted bell peppers.)
The chicken, including the breast meat, was soooo juicy and tender, and the combination of flavors was wonderful. And to complete the meal, I promised you a bonus side. This Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Aleppo Pepper hails from Fine Cooking. We just adored the touch of orange zest!
Both of these recipes take approximately a total of 50 minutes and get cooked on rimmed baking sheets at about the same oven temperature—can’t get much easier than that! If you don’t have two ovens, just cook both sheet pans at 450° and adjust the time a little less for the spuds (cover with foil if they start to get too brown).
Chicken and Cremini Mushroom Traybake with Red Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. ground fennel seeds
- 1 Tbsp. granulated garlic
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 1½ lbs. cremini mushrooms, trimmed, kept whole
- 2 roasted red peppers, kept whole
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 lbs. bone-in, skin-on chicken parts, trimmed and patted dry
- 1 Tbsp. firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
- 10 medium garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
Directions
- Heat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the middle position.
- In a small bowl, stir together the fennel, granulated garlic and 2 teaspoons salt. In a medium bowl, toss the mushrooms and red peppers with 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture and the oil; set aside.
- Into the remaining spice mixture, stir the brown sugar, oregano, 1 tablespoon salt and 2 teaspoons pepper.
- On a rimmed baking sheet, evenly season both sides of the chicken parts with the spice mixture. Place the garlic cloves in the center of the baking sheet, then arrange the chicken parts, skin up, around the garlic; this prevents the garlic from scorching during roasting. Place the roasted peppers around the chicken, then scatter the mushrooms in an even layer on top the peppers.
- Roast until the thickest part of the breast (if using) reaches about 160°F and the thickest part of the largest thigh/leg (if using) reaches about 175°F, 30 to 40 minutes. (If some pieces are done before others, remove them to the platter and cover with foil until the others are cooked to temperature.)
- Using tongs, transfer the chicken and mushrooms to a platter and transfer the roasted peppers to a cutting board; leave the garlic on the baking sheet.
- Carefully pour ¼ cup water onto the baking sheet, then use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits. Pour the liquid, along with the garlic cloves, into a medium bowl.
- Roughly chop the roasted peppers and add to the bowl, then use a fork or potato masher to mash the mixture until almost smooth. (We left ours on the chunkier side.)
- Stir in the vinegar and half the scallions, then spoon the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with the remaining scallions.
Recipe from 177 Milk Street
Bonus Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Aleppo Pepper
Ingredients
- 4 large sweet potatoes (about 3 lbs.), peeled and cut into 1″ chunks
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. Aleppo pepper
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1 Tbsp grated orange zest
Directions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
- In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes chunks, olive oil, Aleppo pepper and kosher salt and toss to coat well.
- Reserving the bowl, transfer the potatoes to the prepared baking sheet and spread in an even layer. Roast, turning occasionally, until the edges of the spuds are slightly caramelized, 30 to 40 minutes.
- Return the potatoes to the reserved bowl and add cilantro and orange zest, tossing gently to combine.
- Season to taste with salt and serve.
Recipe courtesy of Emily Peterson from Fine Cooking
Accounting for Taste 