I spent a busy afternoon in the kitchen, making a dish I’d never made before along with a chocolate pound cake.
Viking Chicken is a simple dish. Simply cut up a variety of root vegetables, layer them in a pan and season with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Place either a whole roasting chicken, or leg and thigh pieces on top, salt and pepper them and dot with butter. Then bake in a 400 degree oven for about 90 minutes to two hours.
Today I sort of went wild with the veggies. I used zucchini, onion, green beans, cauliflower, garlic, sweet potato, white and red potato, carrots, celery and asparagus.
I drained the chicken and veggies and made a quick gravy from the juice and drippings.
For a first-time meal, it was pretty good. The chicken was tender and juicy and the vegetables worked well together. Mostly.
I will peel the sweet potato in advance next time, pass on the asparagus (it just shriveled to nothing), and use less celery.
Give it a try sometime! It’s a great way to clean out the vegetable crisper drawer and it always makes your doctor happy when you report eating your veggies!
There were leftovers. The chicken will make sandwiches for lunch, and the potatoes and all may be used for a hash.
Click to see a larger version of any picture, or check them out on Flickr.
Here’s a link to the pound cake recipe. It’s pretty good, but a bit dry as I had to over-bake it to get it done. I think it could have a bit more chocolate flavor as well. It was a POUND cake; it weighed 3.5 pounds!
My version of Viking Chicken was inspired by this Viking Chicken recipe.
