After spending last week visiting my family in North Carolina it’s back to the real world of work, school and cooking here in New York. We had a great visit with everyone and had a fun time over the Thanksgiving holiday, enjoying a great meal and good times with the family. It was good to get home after a long drive back so we took it easy Saturday and had a nice one dish meal on Sunday, making use of a whole chicken, some fresh veggies and this recipe from Serious Eats for a pan-roasted chicken with vegetables in a Dijon jus for some added zest and flavor. it’s another great one dish meal that you can put together pretty easily and is packed with great flavors.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables and Dijon Jus

16 fingerling or yellow new potatoes, scrubbed

3 carrots, 2 peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks, 1 roughly chopped

Kosher salt

16 Brussels sprouts, halved

Freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut into 8 serving pieces, backbone reserved

1 cup dry white wine

1 onion, split in half

1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

3 to 4 sprigs fresh sage

2 bay leaves

2 cups chicken stock

1 shallot, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon

2 teaspoons fish sauce

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the potatoes and the carrots cut into 1-inch chunks in a medium saucepan, cover the vegetables with cold salted water and bring them to a boil, then simmer the vegetables until they are just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the vegetables and transfer them to a large bowl. Add the Brussels sprouts, season the vegetables with salt and pepper, toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and set the vegetables aside.

Transfer the chicken backbone to the now-empty saucepan. Add the roughly chopped carrot, onion,celery, sage, and bay leaves. Set the saucepan aside. Season the chicken pieces thoroughly with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet set over high heat until the oil is lightly smoking. Add the chicken pieces skin side down and cook, moving the chicken pieces as little as possible, until the chicken skin is rendered and a deep golden brown, about 10 to 14 minutes. Flip the pieces as they finish and lightly brown the second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer the browned chicken pieces to a plate and set them aside.

When all the chicken is browned, add the white wine to the skillet and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Transfer the white wine to a medium saucepan and put in the reserved chicken backbone. Pour in any juices that have accumulated on the chicken resting plate and wipe out the skillet with a paper towel.

Add the chicken stock to the saucepan with the chicken backbone. Bring the stock to a simmer over high heat, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover and let the stock gently bubble while the chicken roasts. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and heat the skillet over high heat until the oil is lightly smoking. Add the vegetable mixture and top the vegetables with the chicken pieces, skin side up. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the chicken breasts register 150 degrees and the chicken legs register at least 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer, removing the chicken pieces and transferring them to a clean plate as they finish roasting, about 45 minutes total.

When all of the chicken pieces have finished roasting, add the shallots to the skillet with the vegetables and toss them to combine. Return the skillet to the oven and continue roasting, flipping the vegetables occasionally, until the vegetables and shallots are browned all over, about 10 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven, add the parsley, toss to coat and then place the chicken pieces directly on top of the vegetables.

Strain the simmering chicken broth mixture into a small saucepan or bowl. Whisk in the butter, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and fish sauce. Season the jus to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the chicken and vegetables, serving the jus at the table.

This meal is packed with ingredients and lots of great flavor. You get a really nice browning on the chicken pieces and I liked everything set over the vegetables to get even more flavor onto the veggies. I actually added the shallot in from the start and roasted the vegetables just with the chicken, tossing them lightly when I took the chicken out and then put the chicken right back in the skillet. The Dijon jus was a nice touch with the chicken and vegetables, with a good mix of the mustard, lemon juice and fish sauce. It all came together very nicely and mostly in one dish (outside of the prep work) so it was easy clean-up as well.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!