Roasted Lemon-Pepper Chicken and Potatoes

You know those days where you can't be bothered to do anything new? The days where you cook something you don't really want to eat just because it's there and easy? Last night was one of those nights. But boy did it turn out different.

I've roasted chicken and potatoes before. I mean, come on. What is a lazier dinner? It's just that a few snippets had lodged themselves in my brain and I was doing them despite my auto-pilot. On a food blog I frequent (I can't remember which), a reader commented on how they loved to roast potatoes under roasting chicken. Kay. Also, I had a package of chicken legs with the skins. I'm so used to boneless, skinless chicken that I can't even fathom what to do with skin. Or hey, good olive oil. But all these little things just added up to way beyond the sum of their parts.

Roasting with the skin on retains moisture and adds flavor. We know that. Seasoning both under and over the skin adds flavor too. Also, duh. But I never thought of drizzling some olive oil over the top. I think the only reason I did it was because that's what I did to the potatoes. Also, I don't have a roasting pan. I have an unnatural aversion to slimy chicken baked directly on a pan, so I routinely cook them on cooling racks. Shoving some potatoes under them was a no-brainer that I'm ashamed took me this long to figure out. A healthy dose of lemon-pepper seasoning on all and it was done.

It was probably the best roast chicken I've ever had. It was falling off the bone under a crispy shell of deliciousness. A true "Did that actually come out of my kitchen" moment. And the potatoes! Guh. Nice and flavorful from the seasonings but drowned in chicken fat and good oil. It. Doesn't. Get. Better. I promise you. Of course, it was so good that I ate all three pieces in one night. Still, I've got two legs left... So, in essence, this is the most long-winded way I could tell you that I made awesome dead animal. Who wants carcass?