Easy Italian Dressing Roast Chicken & Fresh Tomato Sauce

Name: Easy Italian Dressing Roast Chicken & Fresh Tomato Sauce
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: For the chicken:; 3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken drums and/or thighs, scored twice on the skin side, down to the bone, about 2"long and 1" apart; 1/3 cup Italian dressing (well shaken) + 1 teaspoon garlic salt mixed in a small bowl; 1/4 cup grated dry cheese (like Parmesan, Asiago, Manchego, etc...); For the fresh tomato sauce:; 2 baskets grape or cherry tomatoes (about 4 cups); 1 small yellow onion, chopped; 3 Tablespoons olive oil; 1 Tablespoon dried Italian herbs OR 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh herbs; 1/2 teaspoon sugar (if needed to round out the acid in the dressing)

x @cook_5886383

While this isn't the quickest chicken recipe ever, it is super easy, family-friendly, and rustically elegant enough to serve to guests.

By roasting the chicken atop fresh tomatoes, you get a lot of moist, juicy flavor through the underside of the chicken, but then keep the skin safely away from moisture so you still get an irresistibly crispy brown chicken skin made all the more delicious by the layer of frico you get from adding some grated dry cheese atop the chicken in the last few minutes of roasting.

And then all those delicious juices and fat from the chicken along with some of its velvety collagen drip into the fresh tomato sauce, giving it a wonderfully rich and developed flavor while still retaining the light and summery flavor of fresh tomatoes.

Key to the success of this dish is a cooking vessel with enough surface area to be able to spread the chicken out in a single layer without having the pieces touch. I used a 12-inch oven safe stainless saute pan to make mine. If you have an equally large cast iron skillet or a medium sized roasting pan, they'll work just fine.

While this isn't the quickest chicken recipe ever, it is super easy, family-friendly, and rustically elegant enough to serve to guests.

x @cook_5886383

While this isn't the quickest chicken recipe ever, it is super easy, family-friendly, and rustically elegant enough to serve to guests.

Saved

Ingredients

4 to 6 servings

For the chicken:
3 lbsbone-in, skin-on chicken drums and/or thighs, scored twice on the skin side, down to the bone, about 2"long and 1" apart
1/3 cupItalian dressing (well shaken) + 1 teaspoon garlic salt mixed in a small bowl
1/4 cupgrated dry cheese (like Parmesan, Asiago, Manchego, etc...)
For the fresh tomato sauce:
2baskets grape or cherry tomatoes (about 4 cups)
1small yellow onion, chopped
3 Tablespoonsolive oil
1 Tablespoondried Italian herbs OR 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh herbs
1/2 teaspoonsugar (if needed to round out the acid in the dressing)

Saved

Steps

1

In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken and dressing mixture and toss gently several times to coat the chicken thoroughly. Take some of the run off dressing mixture and work it into each score. Let the chicken sit while you're preparing the tomato sauce components.
2

In your roasting pan, add all the tomato sauce components and give them a few good stirs to evenly distribute all the ingredients and seasonings.
3

Lay your chicken skin side up atop the tomato mixture, leaving a little space between the pieces. Make sure to put any leftover marinade into the pan, too.
4

Pop the pan into the middle rack of the oven, turn it up to 425F, set the timer for 60 minutes, and sometime in the next 60 minutes, boil whatever pasta you'd like to have with your tomato sauce, drain, toss it with a teaspoon or so of olive oil so it won't stick, and set it aside. I'm a big fan of the cold, shallow water method.
5

After 60 minutes, sprinkle the grated cheese in equal portions atop the chicken pieces, and put it back on the top rack of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. (Check at the 10 minute mark to see if it's done to your liking or if it could use just a few more minutes in the oven.)
6

I like to put the chicken on its own platter and serve the pasta on the side and just spoon the tomato sauce, broth and all, over the pasta.
7

Enjoy!