Recipe: Delicious Super Easy Provençal Inspired Roast Chicken

Super Easy Provençal Inspired Roast Chicken.

You can cook Super Easy Provençal Inspired Roast Chicken using 11 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Prepare 4 pounds of bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces, patted dry.
You need 6 of ripe med tomatoes, cut into sixths. If using some or all grape tomatoes like I did, 8 to 10 of them equal one regular tomato - no need to cut them.
Prepare 1 of medium onion, peeled and cut into sixths.
You need 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly crushed.
Prepare 3/4 cup of well drained olives (salty black ones or Kalamata types are typical, but I use whatever's on hand).
Prepare 1 of lemon, half cut into 1/4-inch thick slices, the other half juiced.
You need 2-2.5 teaspoons of kosher salt (depending on how salty your olives and how salty you like your food).
Prepare 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
It's 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley and/or basil.
It's of optional: up to 2 tsp dried herbes de provence (or any combination of the herbs that go into it, if you don't have the specific blend: basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, fennel, lavender, savory).
Prepare 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 425F..
Place all ingredients in a large roasting pan or baking dish, except for the lemon slices, finishing by sprinkling the salt, pepper and herbs as evenly as reasonably possible over the entire area. (This reduces the amount of tossing/jostling of ingredients needed to evenly distribute the seasoning.).
Get in there with your hands and gently toss all the ingredients together to evenly distribute the seasoning..
Pull the chicken pieces and distribute them evenly atop the vegetables, skin side up. Distribute the lemon slices atop a few of the chicken pieces..
Roast the chicken in the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes, then move to the next rack up to encourage browning on the skin for another 45 minutes..
That's it! I like to serve it with slices of crusty bread on the side for a super easy and complete meal, and the soft, sweet roasted garlic is specially delicious when paired with a little butter on that bread. And in warm weather like we've been having, we find a chilled Sauv Blanc or Pinot Gris/Grigio is a perfect way to wash it down..