Lebanese Baked Chicken (Frarej)

• 4 T. olive oil
• 1 cut up whole chicken or 8 pieces
• 4 oz. onion cut into wedges (separate layers)
• 2 Roma tomatoes cut into wedges
• 1/4 cup Manzanilla olives
• 6-10 cloves garlic, (leave half of them whole, mince the rest)
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Dash salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500u0b0. Cut up chicken into separate pieces making 8 pieces in all. I never use the back as I simmer that for broth to freeze for other purposes or it becomes dinner for my dogs. :) Drizzle 1 T. of the olive oil on the bottom of a very large baking/roasting pan (I use a 12 x 15 stainless steel metal pan). I do not recommend glass/ceramic wre for such high temperature cooking. If you don't yet have a really large, good quality stainless steel roasting pan, I think it is one of the single most important investments you can make in your cooking tools. Place chicken skin side up in the pan. You don't want any overlapping or crowding. I do not recommend using a glass or ceramic baking dish at the very high temperature called for in this recipe. Glass can be unpredictable, can even break, above 450u0b0. Crowding of this chicken and the surrounding veggies will result in deeper pan juices around them and that will impede crisping of the chicken. Place tomato wedges around and in between chicken pieces. Do the same with the onion pieces and add the garlic. If using the root vegetables, cut them up and place them evenly around the chicken. Squeeze the lemon over everything in the pan. Drizzle remaining olive oil over the pan contents as well. Lightly sprinkle some oregano over all (about 1/4-1/2 tsp, I don't measure it). Bake 30 minutes at 500u0b0. Baste with pan juices, lower heat to 350u0b0 and bake another 20 minutes or to internal temperature of the chicken is 170u0b0 on a meat thermometer. Baste with pan juices just before serving if desired. I like to place the juices in a gravy boat and have it on the table for basting the drier breast meat.

olive oil, chicken, onion, tomatoes, manzanilla olives, garlic, oregano, lemon, salt

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/lebanese-baked-chicken-frarej-53075581 (may not work)