Description
Juicy chicken with perfect potatoes. A great dish for a date night.
Ingredients
Scale
- 5 slices bacon
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 small chicken, about 3.5 lbs
- 1 lemon
- 20 peeled pearl onions or 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 and 2/3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch dice
- 15 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- Oil for frying potatoes (canola, vegetable, peanut, or safflower all work fine)
- 1 small bunch parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large shallow pan or dutch oven. You will want to use a pan with a lid.
- While the bacon is cooking, spatchcock the chicken. Basically, use kitchen sheers to cut the backbone out. See this short video if you’ve never tried it before! Generously season the bird with salt and pepper.
- Once the bacon is cooked, transfer it to a cutting board. Chop when cool and set aside.
- Place the chicken skin side down in the bacon grease and cook over medium for 5 minutes. You can add a tbsp of olive oil if the pan is not well coated with bacon grease.
- Use tongs to turn the chicken skin side up. Reduce the heat to low. Add the onion to the pan and squeeze 1/2 of the lemon over the chicken. Cover the pot and simmer (total time will be about 1 hour and 30 minutes).
- After the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes, heat oil in a separate heavy bottomed skillet or sauce pan (I use my big cast iron). You should pour about 1 1/4 inches (enough to cover the potato pieces). When oil is hot, about 350 F, add potatoes and garlic. Cook for about 6 minutes. Don’t crowd the pan too much, I usually fry in 2 batches. Transfer potatoes to a paper towel lined plate and salt them.
- Transfer chicken to cutting board. Add potatoes and garlic to the cooking juices. Return chicken to pot and cook another 30 minutes. The chicken should be falling off the bone.
- When ready to serve, garnish chicken with bacon, parsley, and remaining lemon half. You can transfer the potatoes and chicken to a platter before garnishing if you like but I usually just leave it in the skillet. Bring it to the table and rest it on a hot pad.
Keywords: fried potatoes, chicken, french, bacon