Nailed It or Failed It: To bundt or not to bundt

prepared this dish when my mom, brother, son and daughter-in-law were coming for supper.

Bundt Pan Roast Chicken

INGREDIENTS

— 3 cloves garlic

— 2 carrots, chopped

— 1 onion, quartered

— 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, quartered

— 1 large bunch thyme

— 1 large bunch rosemary

— Extra virgin olive oil

— 1 3 to 4 pound chicken, gizzards removed

— 1 lemon, sliced

— Kosher salt

— pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and cover hole of the bunt pan with foil.

In the bow of the large bundt pan, combine garlic, carrots, onion and potatoes. Toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Scatter springs of fresh thyme and rosemary on top of the vegetables.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season inside of the cavity generously with salt and pepper, then stuff it with the lemon halves, a few sprigs of thyme and a few sprigs of rosemary. Rub the olive oil all over the skin of the chicken then season generously with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken in the middle of the bundt pan, breast side up. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and skin is golden.

I’d copied the recipe from delish.com, and it was in the stack of chicken recipes I’ve saved over the years.

Since there would be six of us eating, I decided I’d double the recipe.

Brad doesn’t care for rosemary, so I initially thought I’d do one pan with the rosemary and one without the rosemary.

After mentioning it to him, he thought it would be OK to prepare the recipe as written.

After arriving home from my shopping trip, I began preparing the ingredients.

I turned on the oven and covered the holes of two tube pans.

The recipe didn’t say what to do with the garlic, and I ended up mincing it.

I cut up the vegetables and placed them in a large bowl; then I tossed the vegetables with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

All I had to do then was divided the veggies between the two pans and placed the sprigs of rosemary and thyme on top of them.

I patted two large chickens dry, seasoned the cavity with salt and pepper, threw in the lemon halves and a few sprigs of both the rosemary and thyme.

Next, it was time to slather the outside of the chickens with olive oil and season them.

The recipe stated to place the chicken in the middle of the Bundt pan, breast side up.

Well, I had something different in my mind.

Even though I’d read over this recipe, I had the idea that I was going to stick the chicken on the center of the Bundt pan, like it was sitting.

I wondered why in the world, I had to use a Bundt pan for this recipe if the chicken was going to sit on top of the vegetables.

Oh, well, I’d gone this far with the recipe and I followed the directions.

The chickens went into the oven, and I checked on them after 45 minutes.

The meat thermometer indicated they were not done.

Since both chickens were in the same oven, I rotated them for good measure.

About 30 minutes later I rechecked them, and they were done.

I didn’t place each chicken in a separate oven because I was preparing another new dish at the same time.

I placed the chickens on a plate and the vegetables in a bowl after discarding the herbs.

The table was set, the family had gathered, and we were ready to eat.

The chicken was tender and juicy and had a great flavor.

It was a good thing I doubled the recipe because everyone devoured everything.

I didn’t have to ask anyone what they thought; I could tell they liked both the chicken and the vegetables.

This recipe falls in the Nailed It category, and I will add it to my cookbook.

However, even though the recipe is called Bundt Pan Roast Chicken, I’m not using a Bundt pan next time because I don’t see the point.

Sarah Condley is an amateur baker and chef who is compiling a cookbook of her favorite recipes.

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