Sometimes it's good to stick with the basics. In my house growing up, basic was always delicious and usually meant dishes like pan grilled pork or lamb chops with Greek salad, homemade french fries with fried eggs and sliced tomatoes, or lemon garlic chicken with roasted potatoes and oregano.
Since I had a nice unfrozen organic chicken in the fridge that needed to be cooked ASAP, I went with the last one.
1 organic chicken
3 or 4 large potatoes or sweet potatoes
olive oil, I would guess about 1/3 cup
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 large lemon
1 whole head of garlic, peeled (or a handful of cloves out of the pre-peeled bag)
1 rounded tablespoon of oregano (or more if you feel like it)
1/2 cup water or white wine or stock
Dry your chicken with a paper towel. Cut the potatoes into quarters lengthwise. Put them all in a roasting pan along with all of the garlic cloves and rub everything with the olive oil inside and out. Throw some of the garlic cloves inside the cavity of the chicken too.
Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice over everything and throw the lemon in the pan too. Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper and oregano and then cook in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.
After the first 30 minutes, pour the half cup of liquid into the pan and tilt the pan so it goes everywhere, then put it back in for another 50 minutes on 375 degrees. If your chicken is more than 5 pounds, cook it for an extra 10 minutes per pound over.
Serve with crusty bread to soak up all of the lemony-garlicky chicken juices, or mash the potatoes a bit and pour the juice over them, and drink a nice cold beer or white wine with it.
