Peruvian-Style Roasted Chicken with Onions and Peppers

Peruvian-Style Roasted Chicken with Onions and Peppers
Adapted from Whole Foods Market

I've been meaning to try this recipe earlier this year, but never got around to making it. Yet, this recipe is so simple to prepare. Since chicken is on sale this week, I decided to try this recipe. My Peruvian coworker said this recipe was pretty authentic and by reading through the ingredients, I can tell this dish is going to be delicious. I end up purchasing a whole chicken fryer weighing 6 pounds. I haven't been buying whole chickens in awhile so I don't recall ever seeing a chicken fryer weighing that much. Matter of fact, the smallest chicken fryer I've found is about 4+ pounds. Why are the chicken so huge nowadays? I manage to cut up the chicken into 10 pieces and removed the skin and visible fat to make this dish a lot healthier. Especially the wings--I couldn't remove the skin entirely, but I was able to remove a good portion of skin and fat from the wings and I also discarded the third smallest portion of the wing. After all that skin and fat removal, the 6-pound chicken then weighed 3:10.8 pounds. I increase the amount of ingredients for the rub paste since my chicken is a good size chicken. I also increase the amount of oil since I removed the skin from the chicken. You don't need to marinade the chicken ahead of time. Once you put this dish together, in the oven it goes. This dish is so full of flavor and comforting. The chicken was cooked perfectly, not overcook and was very moist and delicious. Make sure your roasting pan is large and wide. If your roasting pan is too small, you will be poaching your chicken and vegetables rather than roasting.

Peruvian-Style Roasted Chicken with
Onions and Peppers

2 tablespoons sweet paprika (0.5 ounce)
4 teaspoons ground cumin (0.2 ounce)
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1-3/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
8 cloves garlic, finely minced (1.3 ounces)
2 tablespoons olive oil (0.8 ounce)
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar (1.2 ounces)2 large sweet onions, 1/4-inch thick slices on the grain
(1:4.9 to 1:9.5 pounds)
2 red and/or yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut into chunks (I cut each pepper in half; then cut each half vertically into fourths; then cut horizontally in thirds) (14.6 ounces)
1 whole chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces (6 pounds at purchase; 3:10.8 pounds cut up and all skin/fat removed)
1 lemon, sliced, seeds removed

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Position oven rack in the center of the oven.

Lightly oil a large roasting pan, about an 11-3/4-inch by 17-inch size pan, and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic, oil and vinegar. Stir together with a fork to make a spice rub paste.

Place onions and peppers in a large bowl. Toss with 3 tablespoons of the spice rub paste. Set aside.

Rub all chicken pieces with the remainder of the spice rub paste and place in prepared roasting pan. Then top with the onions and peppers mixture. Lay lemon slices on top. Roast, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, about 42 to 45 minutes. Gently move vegetables around if beginning to char too much. Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with brown rice or mashed potatoes.

Yields 6 servings