Figgy Roast Chicken

So I know that we had chicken breasts last night and I really hate to repeat my proteins, but we had dinner plans canceled at the last minute this evening and the only thing defrosted was more chicken.  Otherwise we had a random assortment of vegetables (but not enough of anything to build a meal around) and some half-frozen ground bison.  And did I mention that it was pouring outside?  We definitely weren't going back out to the grocery store for anything new.  And I was totally sick of restaurant food because we have eaten so much of it lately.  So chicken it was.  Luckily I visited Eataly earlier today during my lunch break and picked up a whole bunch of random gourmet ingredients, including some figs.  And we had some fresh lemon thyme in the apartment from the farmer's market.  So this was what we threw together - roast chicken with garlic, thyme and fresh figs.

I'm not certain that you could taste the figs and the garlic in the chicken itself, but the chicken was wonderfully moist regardless.  And then in the pan juices you could definitely taste the garlic and taste the sticky sweetness of the figs.  Dip some bread in it and spoon a little of the juices over the chicken.  You won't be sorry.  All this chicken needed to make it the perfect meal was a nice, fresh and peppery arugula salad.  Unfortunately we were out of arugula, but even without the salad it was a very nice meal.

P.S.  The picture wasn't our finest effort.  I threw some thyme on the plate and handed it off to Alex to take pictures thinking that he would arrange the thyme artistically around the plate before he took pictures.  Not so much.  I really should know better by now.

Recipe after the jump!

Figgy Roast Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

s&p

1 tbsp peanut oil

1 tbsp unsalted butter

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

5 figs, halved

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.  

Rinse the chicken and pat dry.  Season the chicken breasts liberally with s&p.  Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet (or other heavy, oven-safe skillet) over medium to medium-high heat.  Add peanut oil.  Once oil is hot, place chicken in the skillet skin-side down.  Brown the skin until nice and golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and place skillet in oven.  Roast chicken for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven, add butter, thyme, garlic, and figs to the pan.  Swirl the butter around to melt.  Return the pan to the oven.  Roast the chicken until chicken juices run clear when you pierce the chicken with a sharp knife, roughly an additional 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven.  Baste chicken with melted butter/pan juices.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.