So Many Dishes

Ken and I do a lot of things together, but cooking is rarely one of them. I suspect that’s my fault. Patience is not one of my virtues, and things that are intuitive to me in the kitchen aren’t for Ken. He’s a good cook, and I really appreciate that he’s willing to cook regularly. We just haven’t worked at making our different cooking styles mesh.

Yesterday was different, though. Our schedule has been off the past couple of months, and Ken planned to cook on Sunday, rather than his usual Tuesday. He had chosen a new recipe, Greek chicken and potato traybake from the Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean cookbook. However, when he read through the recipe again, he didn’t feel confident that he could manage the recipe, and asked if I’d help. I was delighted to do so. I’m sure he could have done it himself, but we ended up having a lot of fun working together.

Traybake is another name for sheet pan dinner, a style of cooking I enjoy. Usually, once the pan is in the oven, there’s very little to do. This recipe has an interesting finishing step, but it only takes a minute or two to finish the dish, and the result was spectacular.

Bone-in chicken pieces are baked at high heat. Given our cold weather, it was a good day to heat the oven to 475 degrees. The recipe recommends against using the large bone-in breasts that seem to be all I can find in the market these days. We cut the breast half into two pieces, and added two thighs, as well. Our only change to the recipe was to swap a bag of baby yellow potatoes for wedges of unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes. Since the potatoes were small, we didn’t bother cutting them in half. They baked perfectly.

Greek Chicken and Potato Traybake

• 1 teaspoon Greek seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves and/or thighs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5- pound bag baby yellow potatoes
• 2 lemons, halved crosswise
• 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• Additional dill for garnish, optional

Heat the oven to 475 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the Greek seasoning, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the mix onto all sides of the chicken. To the remaining seasoning mix in the bowl, add potatoes, lemon halves, and garlic, then toss to coat.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the garlic cloves in the middle of the baking sheet. Arrange the chicken, skin side up, around the garlic. Arrange the lemons, cut side up, and the potatoes in an even layer around the chicken. Roast until the thickest part of the breasts reaches 160 degrees and the thickest part of the thighs reaches 175 degrees, about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, combine the olives, capers, and dill.

Using tongs, transfer the chicken and lemon halves to a serving platter. Push the potatoes to the edge of the baking sheet, leaving the garlic in the center. Using a fork, mash the garlic to a rough paste. Add the olives, capers, and dill to the baking sheet, then, using a wide spatula, stir and toss the ingredients.

Transfer the potato mixture to the platter, placing it around the chicken. If desired, garnish with additional dill. Serves 4.

We have classified this dish as “a keeper.” I don’t think I’d change anything. I had planned to make some Greek salad as an accompaniment, but we sat down with an adult beverage while the chicken was in the oven, and decided we didn’t really need anything else. I cut some tomato wedges as a quick side. We’re going to eat the leftovers tonight; given that we ate more than half of the potatoes, the salad will definitely be in order 😄

Happy eating!