Baked Chicken and Roasted Broccoli

Ah, baked chicken! It is one of the easiest homemade meals to put together.  It varies from one home cook to another, with seasonings ranging from olive oil, salt and pepper, lemon, garlic, rosemary, thyme, cumin etc.  I bake or roast chicken on those nights I'm at my wits' end on what  to cook for dinner, which happens at least about every two weeks (sometimes more often).   Baked or roast chicken can easily get boring unless you vary the seasoning.  But thank God, with baked chicken it's just hard to screw up.  The worse you can do really is to under/over season it with salt.   In this recipe, I added a few other herbs to the basic EVOO, salt and pepper marinade.

For the Chikin:

3 to 4 lbs chicken, cut into 6 parts (2 breasts, 2 thighs and leg quarters, 2 wings) excluding the back

Olive oil

Sea salt (or kosher)

1 teaspoon Organic garlic powder

1 teaspoon organic onion powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground oregano

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Make the adobo seasoning mix by combining the last 6 ingredients in a small bowl.

Rinse the chicken then cut into pieces (2 breasts, 2 thighs and leg quarters, 2 wings), reserving the back for future use. Pat dry with paper towels.

Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray.

Rub and coat the chicken pieces with olive oil then sprinkle both sides generously with salt and  the seasoning mix.  You can do this to the chicken a day in advance if you like.  But even if you don't it's still going to be good.

Arrange the pieces skin-side up in the roasting pan so the breasts are in the center and the so it isn't crowded.  A crowded pan will trap moist in between the pieces and prevent it from browning.

Cook chicken for 30 minutes at 400°F. Then turn oven dial to broil and cook for about 15 - 20 minutes more until cooked through and browned to your liking.  Chicken is cooked when the breast pieces are 165°F and the thighs are 170°.   

Now for the broccoli.
In a large bowl, toss 1 pound broccoli florets with 2 tablespoons EVOO, 1/2 teaspoon coriander, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, a pinch of chili pepper, salt and pepper.  Arrange broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast at 400°F for 20 to 30 minutes.  You can do this while the chicken roasts at 400°F.

Serve chicken and broccoli with Spanish Rice.

Other Baked/Roast Chicken ideas:
Spice Rubbed Chicken Thighs
Butterflied Roast Chicken
Zuni Roast Chicken