Roasted marinated artichokes: check.

Starting dinner prep: NYE tapas style. First up: Barefoot Contessa’s chipotle rosemary roasted nuts.

Last night I had the wonderful pleasure of celebrating my good friend Amy’s wedding. Amy is always looking for good recipes, especially new chicken dishes to cook for her husband (!) Craig. I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, and what a more perfect occasion than the day after her beautiful wedding?

Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) has a great roast chicken recipe which she’s started to call Engagement Chicken. The bird got it’s moniker because because Ina met some girls at a magazine and they told her that whenever one of them made the chicken they got engaged the next day. Hence, Engagement Chicken.

The chicken is incredibly easy, and it’s always great to have roast chicken recipes on hand. They are generally simple, cheap-ish, and look gorgeous, plus usually serves 4-5 people, so good for a small get together.

Engagement Chicken

• One 4-5 lb. Roasting Chicken
• Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
• 2 Lemons
• 1 Whole Head Garlic, Cut in Half cross-wise
• Olive oil
• 2 Spanish Onions, Peeled and Thickly Sliced
• 1/2 Cup Dry White Wine
• 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock (I use reduced sodium)
• 1 Tbsp. All-Purpose Flour

1. Pre-heat oven to 425. Remove and discard chicken giblets. Pat the outside of the chicken dry with a paper towel.

2. Generously salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Quarter the lemons and place 2 of the quarters inside the chicken, along with the garlic, reserving the rest of the lemons for later. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil, and also salt and pepper it. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine/string, and fold the wings under the body of the chicken. Place the chicken in a small roasting pan (if it is too big the onions will burn). In a bowl, toss together lemons, onions, salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp. olive oil, then place in pan around the chicken.

3. Roast the chicken for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the juice run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil tent, allowing to rest for 10 minutes. Leave onions and lemons in the pan to make sauce.

4. Place the pan with onions and lemons on top of the stove and turn heat the medium high. Add wine and stir to scrape up all the brown bits in the pan. Add the stock and the flour, stirring constantly for at least a minute, allowing the sauce to thicken. Carve the chicken on the platter and serve with the onions, lemons, and warm sauce.

I love this recipe so much. The sauce is rich, the chicken is incredibly juicy with a crispy skin, and the onions are incredibly delish. I served the chicken with roasted green beans and Ina’s Tagliarelle with Truffle Butter (to. die. for.) You might not actually get engaged— but you’ll at least eat really well!

So many amazing, sweet, juicy little sungold tomatoes…

Makes for a big bowl of angel hair pasta with tomatoes and basil.