Spanish Roasted Chicken with Spicy Sausage & Gremolata

Kindra from The Meal Planner posted a recipe on Facebook the other day and she said it was the best roasted chicken recipe ever! I decided to put her recipe to the test, and guess what, she was right!

She posted her recipe here: SPANISH ROAST CHICKEN and I followed her recipe almost exactly, but here is my version with just a couple changes to suit what we had in the pantry.

SPANISH ROASTED CHICKEN WITH SPICY SAUSAGE & GREMOLATA

1 chicken

olive oil

salt & pepper

paprika (I love this stuff from Epicure)

4 potatoes, cubed (leave the peel on)

4 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

2 lemons

1/2 c. parsley

5 Italian sausages (we used spicy ones, but you could use mild)

2 garlic cloves, minced

Preheat oven to 425 F, and drizzle roasting pan with olive oil. Zest the lemons and save the zest in a separate bowl. Boil potatoes and carrots for 5 minutes, then drain and place in the bottom of the roasting pan. Stuff chicken with one of the zested lemons (cut in half) and half of the fresh parsley. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika, and drizzle with olive oil. Lay chicken on top of vegetables and put in the oven for 40 minutes. Cut each sausage into 4 or 5 pieces and arrange around the chicken in the roaster. Return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes (my chicken took longer to cook for some reason.) Meanwhile, finely chop the remaining parsley and garlic cloves, and add the lemon zest, stirring to combine. (This is the "gremolata".) Serve chicken with roasted vegetables and sauasage and a spoonful of gremolata on top.

This was such any easy meal to make, and it uses such simple ingredients. Our entire family loved it, and I especially loved the gremolata. It added an extra layer of flavour to the smokey, spicy chicken & sausage. I will definitely be making this meal again sometime when we have friends over for supper. I think next time I would use a larger roaster so that I could add more potatoes and carrots, and I would double the gremolata recipe just so there was lots to go around! Thanks for the great recipe, Kindra!