Roasted Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives

Mom and I made this for dinner between cookie steps:

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Serves 4

1 lemon
2 pints grape tomatoes
1 head garlic, cloves seperated
1 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 3-lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 small loaf country bread, warmed

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Using a vegetable peeler, remove strips of zest from the lemon. (Reserve the lemon).

2. In a large roasting pan, toss the tomatoes, garlic, olives, thyme, and lemon zest with 1 tablespoon of the oil.

3. Nestle the chicken, skin-side up, among the vegetables and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Season the chicken and vegetables with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Roast until the chicken is cooked through, 35-40 minutes.

4. Remove the chicken from the hot roasting pan. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the roasting pan and add the wine. Gently stir, scraping up any bits stuck to the pan. Serve the chicken and vegetables with the pan juices and bread.

We actually skipped the head of garlic and used garlic out of a shaker instead, and skipped the whole chicken and bought four breasts instead. The dinner was delicious, and the bread was great to eat the tomatoes and olives with!

The recipe comes from RealSimple magazine. While the magazine's subject doesn't exactly gear toward me (it's for moms with full time careers) I love the recipes and some of the home style tips. I recommend picking it up every once in awhile. It should probably give you enough ideas for dinner to last you a half a month or more!