This easy, one-pan meal is easy to throw together in the morning and put into the oven when you get home from work. The chicken is coated in toum both inside and out, then placed over seasoned potatoes. You can leave uncovered in the fridge to dry out before putting it into the oven – which helps give it a super crispy skin.
First, we separate the chicken from the skin by pushing your hand into the space between the flesh and the skin on both sides. After you’ve done this, liberally apply the toum (I used about four tablespoons of toum for this) both under and on top of the skin. If you don’t have toum on hand and don’t have the ingredients to make it, you can also use minced garlic and a high-heat oil (such as organic canola, safflower, or avocado oil) in its place, but I really love the flavour and crispness that you get from the toum.
Batata harra are typically fried potatoes, but in the interest of time (and fewer dishes!) we season these and place them in the roasting pan beneath the chicken. This way they absorb the flavours of the chicken and toum that drip down on to them as well. Prep both the potatoes and the chicken in the morning (or the night before work), then come home, pull out the roasting pan, preheat the oven, and in a little over an hour you have a beautiful meal (and again, only one pan to wash!)
Garlic Roast Chicken with Batata Harra
Equipment
- Roasting Pan with Rack
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 3 – 4 pound roasting chicken
- 4 Tbsp toum or 3 Tbsp oil and 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper, ground
- 1 lemon for chicken cavity, optional
For the Batata Harra
- 24 ounces small potatoes (new potatoes)
- 1 Tbsp high heat oil such as organic canola, safflower, or avocado
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper, ground
- 1 tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper (or red chili flakes)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper optional
For Garnish
- 1 small red pepper spicy or sweet – to your taste
- 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped (coriander)
Instructions
Preparing the Chicken
- Dry the chicken. Using your hands, separate the skin from the flesh (both on the top and bottom of the chicken). Liberally apply toum both under and over the skin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place a lemon in the cavity if desired. Set aside.
Preparing the Batata Harra
- In the bottom of a foil-lined roasting pan, combine the potatoes, oil, salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, Aleppo and cayenne peppers and toss to coat.
- Place chicken on the roasting rack over the potatoes, breast side up. Can be left in the refrigerator uncovered for up to 24 hours. Longer time means a crispier skin as the chicken will dry.
Cooking the Chicken and Potatoes
- Remove the roasting pan from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Place the pan in the oven for one hour, or until the breast meat registers a temperature of 160°F (70°C).
- Remove the potatoes from the pan and place in the serving dish. Set the chicken and the rack down (uncovered) and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
- While chicken is resting, chop your cilantro and pepper and sprinkle over the potatoes. Once rested, carve your chicken and serve atop the potatoes with more toum on the side for dipping.
