one-pot mustard and lemon chicken

One-rimmed-baking-sheet chicken. Whatever. This is easy chicken. Perfect weekday night dinner. Joe’s sister Louise requested a recipe of her own on here – one that would be nice and simple. This is a good example of what I might do on a weekday night (you know, because I don’t always make ridiculous dinners on a Tuesday). It’s to the point, but not lacking in flavor, and super good. And look, it’s carrots again. That’s another thing I do; obsess over ingredients.
It’s tough for me to settle on a recipe that’s simple like this. Should I have included onions? Other root vegetables? I guess I feel like it has to be like the definitive one-pot chicken and carrot dish. The BEST way to make them together. Or, at least the best way to make them together with a mustard lemon sauce. But sometimes it’s just nice to have a different way of making your normal weeknight meat and vegetables. You don’t want to marinate the chicken overnight, even if will make a wonderful difference; you don’t want to roast the vegetables at one temperature and the chicken at another; and on the other end, you don’t want another dinner of steamed broccoli and boring chicken. It’s shocking how many dinners I eat that are seasoned only with salt. I sure do love salt. Salt and fat. But I’ve got a reputation to upkeep here. I’m fancier than salt. I use lemon and mustard. Watch out.
My life is about to get stupider. The Biggest Loser is back on. Here go two hours of my life each week, subjugated to schlocky music swells, jiggling fat camera shots, and product placements such as the ever-healthful Subway sandwich restaurant chain. I just love it. And one of the owners of my gym was on it, briefly. I feel so vindicated. And jealous. Did I ever tell you about the dream I had where I was a contestant on The Biggest Loser? I got so stressed in the dream, because I was just waiting for all the 400 pound contestants to realize that I shouldn’t be on there… Pretty dumb dream.
So if you would like to change this recipe, let me suggest that you could use whatever cut of chicken you like best. If you don’t want to cut up a whole chicken, you could use all thighs or drumsticks. Cutting up a chicken is just so nice because whole chickens are cheap and the bones make great stock. And yes, you can add onions, and other thinly cut root vegetables – parsnips sound real good to me.

one-pot mustard and lemon chicken

1 chicken, cut up into 10 pieces (breasts each cut in two pieces)
2 pounds carrots, cut into small sticks (they won’t roast well unless they’re on the small side)
2 lemons, quartered
1/4 cup mustard
juice of one lemon, then its rind quartered
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix mustard and lemon juice together, then combine with chicken in a large bowl. Toss to coat.

3. Arrange carrots and lemon quarters on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Nestle chicken amongst the carrots, pouring remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle additional coarse salt and freshly ground pepper on top of the chicken.

4. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and carrots are tender, flipping the carrots once halfway through. Time will depend on the size of your chicken – I get mine from a local farm and they’re on the small side.

When you serve, make sure to spoon up the pan juices! If you didn’t do such a great job cutting the carrots thin enough (ahem, me), you can remove the chicken and put the baking sheet back in the oven for a but longer until the carrots are to your liking.