All Set for Dinner!

Alright ladies, for those of you who have been waiting for that ring for quite some time now or are just itching to get engaged, I have just the thing for you: engagement chicken. Sounds crazy, right? I had absolutely no idea what the deal with engagement chicken was until Michelle filled me in last week. With today being National Proposal Day, I thought I’d give it a try for dinner tonight – thank you Food Network!

I actually did all my prep work and cooking last night to have dinner ready to eat once I came home. This recipe was super easy and a nice change from my usual grilled chicken. The original recipe calls for olive oil; however I replaced my recipe with coconut oil instead. This switch complimented the lemon, garlic and onion perfectly..yum. Let’s take a look at how to make this dinner to get you that ring!

Ingredients

1 roasting chicken

Sea salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste

2 lemons

1 head of garlic, cut in half

Coconut oil, melted

2 onions, peeled and thickly sliced

½ cup dry white wine

½ cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions

Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove any chicken giblets that are found inside the whole chicken and discard; pat the outside dry.
2. Cut the lemons into quarters, place 2 quarters in the chicken along with garlic and reserve the remaining lemons.
3. Brush the outside of the chicken generously with coconut oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wings under the body of the chicken.
4. Place the chicken in a small roasting pan, approximately 11 by 14-inch (if the pan is too large, the onions will burn). Next, place the reserved lemon quarters and sliced onions in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper.
5. Pour that mixture around the chicken and place in the oven for around 1 ½ hours. When finished, remove the chicken to a platter, cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 minutes (leave the lemons and onions in the pan).

Sauce

1. Place the pan on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon.
2. Add the stock and sprinkle in flour, stirring constantly for a minute, until the sauce thickens.
3. Finally, carve the chicken and serve with lemons, onions and the warm sauce.

To spice up this recipe, you could add pineapple or mango to the chicken. Both these fruits would complement the coconut oil, giving a unique sweetness to the roasted chicken. For those of you who make this recipe tonight, fingers crossed your engagement dreams will come true and maybe mine will, too! Since I made this whole dish yesterday, I plan on warming my sauce up over the stove top. The plus side of this dinner is that you’ll have a good amount of leftovers. Try making Lani’s Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon to serve with remaining chicken for a great second day meal option.

-Kayla