Chicken. Potatoes. Gravy…enough said!

original blog post: https://greedygirlcooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/chicken-potatoes-gravyenough-said.html

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

4-5 large potatoes

½ cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup chopped sweet peppers

½ cup chopped onions

4 sprigs thyme

½ cup chopped scallion

1 teaspoon allspice berries

3 tablespoon shredded ginger

1 tablespoon shredded garlic

1 scotch bonnet pepper

1 teaspoon Salt or a bouillon cube (to taste)

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 can coconut milk

1.5 cup of water

3 tablespoon coconut oil

For the marinade

2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Black pepper

¼ cup Oil

2 tablespoon Onion powder

1 tablespoon Allspice berries ground

½ teaspoon Soy sauce

1 teaspoon vinegar

Greedy Tips:

• Make sure you have a very sharp knife to cut through the backbone. I don’t remove the backbones anymore, in the past, I used to cut them out and save them for stock. But I find there is no need to cut it out (plus I love the bones)
• You need a big enough wide skillet that can hold all the potatoes and a whole chicken. If you don’t have a big enough pan you can make all the items but transfer to an oven-safe baking dish or foil pan to cook in the oven

Instructions

• Clean and wash the chicken
• Take a sharp knife and cut along the backbone and spread the chicken out
• Spread the chicken open and remove the chest bone so that between the two breasts is only meat.
• For the marinade, you will need two small bowls
• In the first combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and half the oil
• Use this underneath the skin of the chicken the breast and thighs
• In the second combine, 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar, half the oil soy sauce, onion powder, black pepper, smoked paprika, vinegar
• Use this on the outside of the chicken rubbing it all over back and front making sure to get It into all the nooks and crannies
• Place in a pan and cover with foil or plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours
• When ready to cook remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow it to come to as close to room temp as possible, you do not want to sear cold chicken.
• Peel the potatoes cut into 1 to 2-inch chunks and set aside in cold water
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• In a pot add coconut oil and heat up medium-high heat.
• Place the chicken in and sear skin side down until golden
• Flip and sear the other side until it is also brown and golden
• Remove the chicken from the oil
• Add all the veggies, tomato, onion, scallion, thyme, garlic, ginger, hot pepper sweet pepper allspice. Saute until fragrant and the veggies begin to soften
• Add the coconut milk, water, strained potatoes, bouillon or salt and sugar bring to a boil
• Once its boiling place the chicken on top, pop it in the oven uncovered and cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes. You want the chicken to be fall off the bone tender with crispy skin, the sauce should be reduced and the potatoes fully cooked.
• When the chicken is cooked remove from the oven, set the chicken and spoon out the potatoes into your serving tray. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
• If the remaining sauce is thick enough to your liking use an oil separator to skim off the excess fat and strain the gravy until smooth, serve overtop the potatoes and chicken
• If the sauce has not reduced enough, return it to the stove and cook it down until it has reduced. Then skim the oil and strain all the remnants so a smooth silky sauce remains. Slice the chicken into parts. If you prefer crispy skin serve the sauce on the side with the potatoes and chicken
• If you like the chicken smothered in gravy place the chicken on top of the potatoes and pour the sauce over everything and let it seep in.
• Enjoy!