Purple Power

We had spectacular skillet roasted chicken last night.  A very  simple non-recipe. I seasoned a cut up half  chicken with salt and pepper, roasted it in a preheated oven at 350 for about 45 minutes, pulled it out, turned the oven to broil, doused the chicken with a lemon, olive oil, dried oregano, and garlic vinagrette, topped it with fresh oregano, threw in some halved lemons, and broiled it until it was charred and caramelized.

That could have been dinner.  Call it a day.

However, I found drop dead gorgeous purple potatoes and twisted frond-topped baby carrots at the market yesterday morning. I couldn't resist pairing those beauties with the roasted chicken.

Again, another non-recipe. I peeled, trimmed and cut the potatoes into oblique shaped quarters. The carrots were trimmed and peeled with the green tops reserved.  Whenever I find carrots with tops attached, I use the greenery much like parsley which adds fresh grassy flavor with carrot undertones.

I sliced a small red onion, tossed it with the potatoes, carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and roasted them alongside the chicken until they were cooked through, softened, and almost candied. When they came out of the oven,  I threw in a large slab of butter, carrot parsley, and fresh dill.

I plated the roasted carrots and  potatoes, topped the vegetables with the chicken, and poured the lemon garlic sauce over all of it.

Fresh sliced heirloom tomatoes for cool freshness finished the plate with breadsticks to sop.

The chicken was sweet from its own caramelized goodness, voluptuous from the olive oil oregano combination, and crisp tart from the fresh lemon juice. A  fantastic self made pan sauce.  Once all of that flavored sauce dripped down onto and into the potatoes and carrots, it created a dipping pool for everything.  The potatoes were very interesting.  Yeah, they tasted like potatoes, but their texture was very unique.  An usual texture that seemed to border bewteen waxy and starchy.  Mealy, in a good way.  Toothsome.

The carrots were unbelievable.  Though small, they packed huge  fresh carrot flavor.  Sweet, bold,  soft, and firm.  Totally fresh.

The chicken was fabulous. 

The vegetables were a total  tribute to local farmers. Period.