00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Sheet Pan Harvest Chicken on Pan Juice Toast.
00:09That's right, we are elevating Sheet Pan Chicken, literally and figuratively,
00:14by roasting the chicken on top of bread, which soaks in all the goodness dripping off the chicken.
00:19And when we pair that with the meat and caramelized vegetables,
00:22we're talking about a very comforting, satisfying, and delicious meal.
00:25And to get started, we're going to make a very flavorful and voluminous marinade for the chicken,
00:32which includes a whole bunch of garlic, a big spoon of dried Italian herb blend,
00:36featuring oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, and sage.
00:39We'll also do some freshly ground black pepper, some smoked paprika, some garlic powder,
00:46a generous amount of salt, followed by the customary, a few shakes of cayenne,
00:51or maybe more than a few, depending on our mood.
00:54And then I'm going to squeeze in the juice of two lemons,
00:57since we definitely need some acidity here to make things work.
01:01But it doesn't have to be lemon, right?
01:03Sometimes I'll use rice vinegar, or sherry vinegar, or champagne vinegar.
01:08So use whatever you want.
01:10I mean, you guys are after all the winners of your chicken dinners.
01:14But no matter what you use, we'll finish up with some olive oil,
01:17and then we'll take a whisk and give this a thoughtful and thorough mixing.
01:21And then we'll set it aside, and we'll prep our bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.
01:26And to do that, we will flip them over and find the bone,
01:29since we're going to make two cuts through the skin,
01:31in the center about an inch apart,
01:33all the way down to the bone, at a 90 degree angle.
01:37And we do this for a few reasons, all of them good.
01:40Okay, it's going to help our marinade penetrate in,
01:43and our thighs are going to cook a little bit faster and more evenly.
01:46Plus, I just think it looks cooler.
01:49And while I hope you don't, if you end up using breasts for this,
01:52you will definitely skip this step.
01:54But anyway, once our thighs have been slashed,
01:57we will transfer those into our marinade.
01:59And as we do, we'll flip them over to make sure they're well coated on both sides.
02:04And once they've all been placed in, we'll do that again,
02:07just to make sure they're nicely coated.
02:10And we have marinade going into every nook, and of course cranny.
02:14And once that's been accomplished, we want to finish with the skin side up.
02:18And then what we'll do is cover this,
02:19and we'll pop it in the fridge,
02:21and we'll leave it in there anywhere between 1 hour and 12 hours.
02:25And as usual, when it comes to marination time,
02:28the longer it is, the stronger it is.
02:31But this still tastes great just after 1 hour.
02:33And if you're wondering, I ended up doing mine for 3.
02:36But however long we go,
02:38to prep our sheet pan, we'll place down 6 nice thick slices of bread
02:42that we will drizzle generously with olive oil on both sides.
02:46And ideally, this bread is kind of stale,
02:48which makes it nice and absorbent, which is what we want.
02:51But a good trick if you're using fresh bread,
02:53is just pop these slices in the toaster on the low setting,
02:57which is going to dry it out nicely.
02:59Oh, and I should mention,
03:01feel free to do this with melted butter if you want,
03:03and you'll have something a little richer and more decadent.
03:06And once our bread is oiled, or buttered, and in position,
03:10we will top each piece with one thigh.
03:12And if everything goes according to plan,
03:14we should still have plenty of the marinade in the bowl,
03:17which is why we made such a generous amount,
03:19since what we'll do once our chicken's been platformed,
03:22is transfer whatever cut-up vegetables we're going to be roasting with the chicken into the bowl,
03:26which for me are going to be some halved little creamer potatoes,
03:30as well as some halved brussel sprouts.
03:32I also had a couple patty pan squash I cut up,
03:35as well as some beautiful little chantereau mushrooms.
03:39And then I finished up with some sliced red onion,
03:41and some sweet red pepper.
03:44And once everything's in, we'll take a spatula and give this a good mix,
03:47trying to coat everything evenly and thoroughly with the marinade.
03:51And once we feel like that's happened,
03:52we'll go ahead and scatter those around our thighs.
03:55And it doesn't really matter with the mushrooms, peppers, and onions,
03:58but if you can, try to evenly divide the potatoes and the brussel sprouts.
04:02Okay, if you do a big pile of those in one spot,
04:04they might not cook at the same rate as the ones that are spread out.
04:08And because I want these vegetables deeply roasted and well caramelized,
04:13I've cut things into fairly small pieces.
04:15But if you don't want yours to roast that deeply,
04:17you can simply cut those things into larger pieces.
04:20Although for this kind of thing,
04:22I think we always want to err on the side of making sure things are roasted tender.
04:25So be careful not to go too big.
04:28And that's it.
04:29This is now ready to transfer into the upper center of a 450-degree oven
04:34for about 45 minutes or until our chicken's cooked through
04:37and our veggies are caramelized.
04:39And it hopefully looks like this.
04:42And I knew my chicken was done because I just knew.
04:45But we definitely want to give the potatoes a poke
04:47to make sure those are nice and tender.
04:49And if your chicken's cooked, but your veggies need a little more time,
04:52just go ahead and remove those to a plate
04:54and pop the pan back in the oven for a few minutes.
04:56But since everything was perfect,
04:58I went ahead and finished up with some sliced cherry tomatoes,
05:01which of course are optional, like everything in this.
05:04But those little cool bursts of sweet tangy juice
05:07really does add a wonderful contrast to the roasted vegetables
05:10and the rich savory meat.
05:12And of course, our pan juice toast.
05:14And then for some final touches,
05:16I did a drizzle of olive oil over the top
05:19just to shine things up.
05:21And then I finished with a scattering of freshly chopped Italian parsley.
05:24And my sheet pan harvest chicken on pan juice toast was ready to enjoy.
05:30So I grabbed a spatula and served up
05:32and made sure to add plenty of those roasted potatoes and veggies to the plate.
05:36And please note how dry and clean the pan is.
05:39Usually you'd see a fair amount of chicken fat and pan drippings on there.
05:43But not this time, since that bread has soaked up every drop.
05:47And if you wanted, you could certainly enjoy this with some chicken gravy
05:50or even just a simple squeeze of lemon.
05:53But as far as I'm concerned, this does not need anything else.
05:57Right?
05:57When you take a bite of the chicken with a piece of the toast,
06:00you realize that pan juice soaked bread is the sauce.
06:04And not only are the flavors amazing, but the textures are as well.
06:08Right?
06:09The sides and bottom of the toast are kind of crispy and crusty.
06:12And then inside you have something that's very soft and moist and custard-like.
06:16And just the chicken and these roasted vegetables would be fantastic.
06:19But when you factor in this bread, everything becomes extra special.
06:24Oh, and make sure you pay attention to proper distribution.
06:27All right?
06:27Just about every bite of chicken should be taken with a bite of toast.
06:31So please plan accordingly.
06:33Oh, and as you might know,
06:34I generally ignore the vegetable side dishes during these videos
06:38and tend to focus on the main components.
06:40But here, that was pretty much impossible
06:42since those roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts and squash
06:45were just so delicious,
06:47having been tossed in that marinade before this went in the oven.
06:50So I especially loved that part of this technique.
06:53And because we seasoned that so aggressively,
06:55I didn't even need to sprinkle any extra salt over the vegetables.
06:58So that marinade is a keeper.
07:00And that little bit of charring we got on the onions and peppers
07:03adds a beautifully subtle, bittersweet element
07:06that, as usual, amplifies the other flavors.
07:09So to summarize, I loved everything about this,
07:12especially what we're calling pan-juiced toast,
07:15which I'm going to flip over here
07:16so you can see how beautifully that crisps up in the pan.
07:19And then before we sign off,
07:21let me remind you,
07:22this is not really a recipe.
07:24It's more of a technique.
07:25And no matter what you use for a marinade,
07:28or what herbs and spices you include,
07:30or what kind of potatoes and veggies you roast around the chicken,
07:33the method here is going to work exactly the same.
07:36So maybe try it like this first and then start experimenting.
07:39But whether you personalize this or not,
07:41it is a great technique.
07:43And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
07:46So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
07:50a printable written recipe,
07:51and much more info as usual.
07:53And as always, enjoy.
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