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    Home » main course » Spring Chicken: Spicy Roast Chicken with Carrots, Olives and Lemon

    Spring Chicken: Spicy Roast Chicken with Carrots, Olives and Lemon

    Apr 17, 2012 · 20 Comments

    Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

    This is the part of spring where the weather gets a little schizophrenic. After a brief flirtation with almost-summer, we're back to our regularly scheduled cool spring temperatures, complete with the occasional dive below 0C and some drizzly mornings.

    Spicy Roast Chicken

    Despite the odd warm day here and there, I've been finding myself craving one last fling with my usual cool-weather comfort food favourites. I want buttery-soft roasted potatoes, herb-rubbed pork roasts studded with garlic cloves, crispy-skinned roast chicken stuffed with whole lemons, and thick slices of rare roast beef crusted with mustard.

    I'm sure I'm just subconsciously trying to get my fix of all things oven-roasted before summer rolls around, bringing with it the heat and humidity that makes it impossible to turn on the oven for any amount of time.

    Spices and Olives

    Out of all my recent adventures in roasting, this is my absolute favourite.

    It's a ridiculously simple sort of dish, made by tumbling all of the ingredients together in one big roasting pan, shaking everything around to coat thoroughly with spices, and then throwing the lot into the oven to roast. Strictly a set-it-and-forget-it sort of affair.

    While the preparation is straightforward, the flavour is anything but. The combination of smoked paprika and harissa turns ordinary meat and potatoes into something rather extraordinary, giving a pleasant tongue-tingling heat to the crispy golden-brown chicken skin and lending a bright, sunny Mediterranean flavour to the jumble of roasted vegetables punctuated by sour lemon and salty olives.

    Spicy Roast Chicken

    All that's needed to turn this into a complete meal is a simple green salad, since everything else you need is in that one roasting pan.

    And did I mention that chicken drumsticks and thighs bake up in far less time than a whole bird? I get my roast chicken fix in under an hour, which makes it perfect even on a busy weeknight.

    Spicy Roast Chicken

    Best of all, the only thing left to wash up at the end is the roasting pan. Perfect.

    I used a store-bought harissa spice mix to make this recipe (President's Choice Black Label brand, to be specific), but don't panic if you can't find it in your local supermarket - here's a recipe for a homemade harissa paste you can use instead.

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    Spicy Roast Chicken

    Spicy Roast Chicken Legs with Olives and Lemon


    ★★★★★

    5 from 1 reviews

    • Author: Isabelle Boucher (Crumb)
    • Total Time: 1 hour
    • Yield: 6 1x
    Print Recipe
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    Description

    Roast chicken on a weeknight? It's possible when you use chicken thighs and drumsticks, which roast in a fraction of the time it takes to cook a whole bird.


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 6 chicken leg quarters, cut into thighs and drumsticks
    • 1 lb carrots, cut on the diagonal into 2" lengths
    • 1 lb baby potatoes, cut in half
    • 1 large red onion, cut into thin wedges
    • ½ cup oil-cured black olives (pref pitted)
    • 1 lemon, cut into thin slices
    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • Salt and pepper to taste
    • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
    • 1 tbsp harissa spice blend
    • Fresh thyme sprigs

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 425F.
    2. In a large roasting pan, toss the carrots, potatoes, onion, olives, lemon slices and olive oil until vegetables are evenly coated. Spread out into an even layer, and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.
    3. Pat the chicken pieces dry. Season generously with salt and pepper, then dust on both sides with smoked paprika and harissa spice.
    4. Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables, making sure the thighs are skin side up, and top off with a few sprigs of thyme (be as generous or as skimpy as you like, depending on how much you like thyme - it's really up to you)
    5. Roast in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Serve immediately.
    • Prep Time: 10 mins
    • Cook Time: 50 mins
    • Category: Main

    Did you make this recipe?

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Ana says

      April 25, 2018 at 6:39 am

      Great recipe i love it.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    2. [email protected] says

      May 27, 2012 at 11:47 pm

      I LOVE olives but I havent tried in this combination with chicken and lemon and I have been missing out...this on my recipe to do list!

      Reply
    3. Lana says

      April 27, 2012 at 9:05 am

      Not only do I love thisrecipe, I have a couple of clients who will as well.

      Reply
    4. Russell says

      April 25, 2012 at 11:15 am

      Yep. You've just helped me decide what to do for dinner tonight. I've got a whole chicken waiting to be deconstructed and turned into this!

      Reply
    5. CJ at Food Stories says

      April 19, 2012 at 6:26 pm

      Major congrats on being in the foodbuzz top 9, today!

      Reply
    6. Geraldine Saucier says

      April 19, 2012 at 3:42 pm

      The Roast Chicken sound and looks delicious:) I am going to make this for dinner next week:)

      Reply
    7. Linda says

      April 19, 2012 at 1:22 pm

      What a great blog!

      Reply
    8. Candice says

      April 19, 2012 at 1:11 pm

      Looks delicious! Can the chicken be marinated overnight for more flavor?

      Reply
      • Isabelle says

        April 19, 2012 at 1:18 pm

        Great idea, Candice! I haven't tested it that way, but I don't see any reason as to why it wouldn't work.
        Another option for those of us who aren't very good at planning in advance (certainly one of my challenges!) would be to rub some of the spice blend under the skin, so that it's in direct contact with the meat... I often do that when I'm roasting whole birds.

        Reply
    9. DB, The Foodie Stuntman says

      April 19, 2012 at 11:39 am

      Congratulations on making the Foodbuzz Top 9!

      Reply
    10. kelly says

      April 19, 2012 at 9:38 am

      Absolutely gorgeous photos! And the recipe sounds so tasty that it's making me wish my new kitchen wasn't full of boxes and that I could find my roasting pan! I fell in love with harissa on fried chicken a few months ago, so I'm sure adding it to roast chicken will only deepen the romance. I'll let you know how it turns out when I'm unpacked in a week or two! :)

      Reply
    11. Abby says

      April 19, 2012 at 8:50 am

      Absolutely delicious! Stunning photos too :)

      Reply
    12. Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef says

      April 18, 2012 at 12:08 pm

      It's Autumn but I'm assuming there are no rules preventing me from making this tomorrow. It looks wonderful!

      Reply
    13. movita beaucoup says

      April 18, 2012 at 11:05 am

      This needs to get in my belly. Now. (Or, perhaps for tomorrow night's dinner...)

      Reply
    14. Kelsey @ K&K Test Kitchen says

      April 17, 2012 at 10:42 pm

      This sounds fabulous! I've been pretty pleased with the PC Black Label products, lots of great stuff!

      Reply
    15. The Starving Artist says

      April 17, 2012 at 9:20 pm

      Beautiful work! Yum!

      Reply
    16. Kiri W. says

      April 17, 2012 at 5:29 pm

      Mmmm, this looks amazing - I love olives so much, what an interesting combination with carrots! I want this for dinner. Darn.

      Reply
    17. [email protected] says

      April 17, 2012 at 3:28 pm

      Oh the lemons look so pretty roasted, this looks amazing. Sending to my friend, I know she will love it too.

      Reply
    18. Priscilla M says

      April 17, 2012 at 12:52 pm

      Now can I come over for dinner? I'll bring beer :)

      Reply
    19. PolaM says

      April 17, 2012 at 10:43 am

      Beautiful! It looks so simple and yet so delicious! I want to make it!!

      Reply

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    Hello! I'm Isabelle, and this is my blog. I'm a 40-something coffee-chugging, booty-shaking, bargain-shopping, trucker-swearing self-taught cook with a major addiction to vintage cookbooks. Come for the recipes, stay for the terrible puns! Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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