Roasting vegetables to go with chicken

[Anonymous]

I'm very glad this forum is anonymous, because I'm embarrassed to be admitting this.

I can't cook. We eat pretty healthy, because I can make straightforward healthy meals like grilling a piece of salmon and some vegetables and serving with boiled rice, but I don't use a lot of complex cooking methods. Because I don't cook complex things, my kitchen is very barebones. Not a lot of spices, or fancy ingredients, or cooking utensils.

On snowdays I like to have some "comfort food", and I have the rare opportunity to be home long enough to cook something that takes some time in the oven, but that only solves one of the issues I have which would be 1) lack of time 2) lack of skill 3) lack of ingredients 4) lack of utensils.

So in preparation for this snowday I bought a roasting chicken, sealed in a bag*. It says all I have to do is put it in a pan (which I have) and pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for 90 minutes. It's in there now, bag and all (this is what the directions said).

My question is, I like my chicken with lots of veggies. Could I put some veggies on the top rack for the last little bit? Would that turn out well? I know my mother would roast the veggies with the chicken, but I don't think that's an option with the bag situation. I have recipes that describe roasting vegetables but they all either require a different temperature or an ingredient I don't have.

Here's what I do have:

Baby Carrots
Onions
Potatoes
A very small number of brussell sprouts

Frozen broccoli and cauliflower

Some Italian Dressing (as a marinade?)
Some Balsamic Vinegar (the most sophisticated ingredient in my house)
Black pepper
Salt
Olive Oil

What should I do?

*Yes, I know, I am a terrible mother for serving my kids such crap. Hence my comment above about being glad this is anonymous, and my anecdote about the salmon to prove that we don't do this every day.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I think that would go well together.

[Anonymous]

Dice the onions, parboil the potatoes (this means boil them a little while), then toss it all in olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and put it in the oven to finish cooking and get crunchy.

Alternatively, just put it directly in the oven, but make the potatoes really small because they can take a while to cook. Oh--just saw the 90 minutes. Make them normal sized, you should be fine roasting the potatoes directly in the oven 45 minutes. If they need to get crunchier, take out chicken and switch to broil.

You can add brussell sprouts, too, but they cook faster than potatoes--add them after 15 minutes, ditto oil and salt. I would not add carrots to potatoes, odd mix.

Don't roast frozen veggies, they never come out right.


Also, balsamic vinegar is very tasty on any type of green veggie, but maybe not on a potatoe...unless you add it at the end. Might make them soggy if you start with it. Drizzle, don't coat.

Does that help?

Bon Appetit.

[Anonymous]

If I were you I would cut up the onions and potatoes into about 3/4" dice, put them and the carrots (and halved Brussels sprouts if you like) in a bowl, toss with a couple tablespoons of olive oil plus some salt and pepper, spread out the whole shebang in a single layer on whatever kind of baking sheet or shallow pan you have and roast it at whatever temperature you're using for the chicken. Check on them every 15 minutes or so and give them a stir.

[Anonymous]

I just want to let you know that you cook much more complex things than I do. I only know how to make about 5 things, and two of them are boxed mac & cheese, and frozen ravioli. The only three spices I have are salt, cinnamon, and minced garlic. The only marinade we have is Soy Vey sauce.

[Anonymous]

Here's what you do:

Chop the onions
Dice up the potatoes
Maybe cut the carrots in half if they are large
Toss in your brussell sprouts too
Forget the frozen veggies - too much water
You want the veggies all around the same size

Take a large cookie sheet or any large pan you have that is oven safe. Add the veggies. Toss them in salt and pepper, and coat them in olive oil - just enough to coat, not too much.

Put them in the oven with the chicken. They will probably take around 30 minutes but it depends on small you cut the veggies. Check them maybe every 10-15 minutes flipping them so they evenly brown. Once they are nice and tender and browned they are done!

Hope this helped OP. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dice the onions, parboil the potatoes (this means boil them a little while), then toss it all in olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and put it in the oven to finish cooking and get crunchy.

Alternatively, just put it directly in the oven, but make the potatoes really small because they can take a while to cook. Oh--just saw the 90 minutes. Make them normal sized, you should be fine roasting the potatoes directly in the oven 45 minutes. If they need to get crunchier, take out chicken and switch to broil.

You can add brussell sprouts, too, but they cook faster than potatoes--add them after 15 minutes, ditto oil and salt. I would not add carrots to potatoes, odd mix.

Don't roast frozen veggies, they never come out right.


Also, balsamic vinegar is very tasty on any type of green veggie, but maybe not on a potatoe...unless you add it at the end. Might make them soggy if you start with it. Drizzle, don't coat.

Does that help?

Bon Appetit.

Thank you.

Just to be clear, let me repeat that back what I'm hearing

Peel potatoes, cut up potatoes and onions to like the size of golf balls?

Toss with olive oil and a little salt (and pepper?)

Stick on top rack for 45 minutes, stir once in a while

At the end drizzle a couple with balsamic, taste with and without balsamic, decide which you like better and serve the rest that way

Why wouldn't carrots go with potatoes? I'm the OP and one of the few foods I make well is roasted carrots and fennel or roasted carrots and parsnips (both cut up, put some olive oil and some salt, roast, super easy) so I know carrots can be roasted and they go with white foods. I also like carrots and potatoes together in things like pot roast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dice the onions, parboil the potatoes (this means boil them a little while), then toss it all in olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and put it in the oven to finish cooking and get crunchy.

Alternatively, just put it directly in the oven, but make the potatoes really small because they can take a while to cook. Oh--just saw the 90 minutes. Make them normal sized, you should be fine roasting the potatoes directly in the oven 45 minutes. If they need to get crunchier, take out chicken and switch to broil.

You can add brussell sprouts, too, but they cook faster than potatoes--add them after 15 minutes, ditto oil and salt. I would not add carrots to potatoes, odd mix.

Don't roast frozen veggies, they never come out right.


Also, balsamic vinegar is very tasty on any type of green veggie, but maybe not on a potatoe...unless you add it at the end. Might make them soggy if you start with it. Drizzle, don't coat.

Does that help?

Bon Appetit.

Balsamic vinegar is awesome on roasted Brussels sprouts. I would do what PP said, roast in olive oil and either do two separate pans/baking sheets or separate the Brussels sprouts after they're cooked. Drizzle with balsamic and toss. YUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were you I would cut up the onions and potatoes into about 3/4" dice, put them and the carrots (and halved Brussels sprouts if you like) in a bowl, toss with a couple tablespoons of olive oil plus some salt and pepper, spread out the whole shebang in a single layer on whatever kind of baking sheet or shallow pan you have and roast it at whatever temperature you're using for the chicken. Check on them every 15 minutes or so and give them a stir.

OP here, I only have one pan and it is holding the chicken. I'm figuring I can cook this in a boat made of tin foil*. If you were going to guess, how many minutes would you cook the things. I can take them out early or cook them longer, but I'd like to at least entertain the possibility that the chicken will finish at the same time as the veggies.


* Yes, I know this is a horrible environmental thing. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

I have never made chicken in a bag, but if you dont cook it in the bag toss the veggies in the same pan.

[Anonymous]

You don't have to peel the potatoes. Just scrub them so the dirt from the ground comes off.

[Anonymous]

Not OP but I just love you guys in the Food/Cooking/Restaurant forum. You are so nice. This post could have been from me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to let you know that you cook much more complex things than I do. I only know how to make about 5 things, and two of them are boxed mac & cheese, and frozen ravioli. The only three spices I have are salt, cinnamon, and minced garlic. The only marinade we have is Soy Vey sauce.

We should become friends. I will let you know how the chicken in the bag thing turns out, you might like it too.

I think we have an equal number of spices. I have salt, pepper, and cream of tartar ('cause playdough is a specialty of mine). Oh, and I have "taco seasoning" in a little $1 bag. Does that count? And lots of Tabasco sauce, my teenager loves it so much that Santa brought him a giant bottle in his stocking.

[Anonymous]

Oh, the previous poster with the minced garlic reminds me that I have some cloves of garlic. Can I add those?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dice the onions, parboil the potatoes (this means boil them a little while), then toss it all in olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and put it in the oven to finish cooking and get crunchy.

Alternatively, just put it directly in the oven, but make the potatoes really small because they can take a while to cook. Oh--just saw the 90 minutes. Make them normal sized, you should be fine roasting the potatoes directly in the oven 45 minutes. If they need to get crunchier, take out chicken and switch to broil.

You can add brussell sprouts, too, but they cook faster than potatoes--add them after 15 minutes, ditto oil and salt. I would not add carrots to potatoes, odd mix.

Don't roast frozen veggies, they never come out right.


Also, balsamic vinegar is very tasty on any type of green veggie, but maybe not on a potatoe...unless you add it at the end. Might make them soggy if you start with it. Drizzle, don't coat.

Does that help?

Bon Appetit.

Thank you.

Just to be clear, let me repeat that back what I'm hearing

Peel potatoes, cut up potatoes and onions to like the size of golf balls?

Toss with olive oil and a little salt (and pepper?)

Stick on top rack for 45 minutes, stir once in a while

At the end drizzle a couple with balsamic, taste with and without balsamic, decide which you like better and serve the rest that way

Why wouldn't carrots go with potatoes? I'm the OP and one of the few foods I make well is roasted carrots and fennel or roasted carrots and parsnips (both cut up, put some olive oil and some salt, roast, super easy) so I know carrots can be roasted and they go with white foods. I also like carrots and potatoes together in things like pot roast.

NP here. If it were me, I would just do roasted potatoes (you do not need to peel them if you're not a fussy eater!) and throw in the brussels sprouts. Roast away w/ olive oil and salt - I usually use a yummy rosemary salt, but it's not totally necessary. Roasted carrots and potatoes would also be fine, but I am not sure about cutting up baby carrots - seems like unnecessary work. I like balsamic w/ roasted veggies, so people don't - try it and see. Chopping regular carrots is really easy and takes just a minute. I love to eat, but I am a lazy cook...so YMMV.