Roasted Chicken with Maple Syrup

Roasted chicken is one of my favorites. This is a very easy meal to make and you can dress it up any way you want it.

For this recipe, I used a maple syrup (left over from our maple syrup making adventure from last Spring) as the main ingredient and spiced it up with some dried Tarragon, sweet Spanish Paprika and freshly chopped scallions for the chicken and Thyme and Balsamic Vinegar for the carrot-broccoli-cauliflower mix. The maple syrup slightly sweetened and added a wonderful caramelized glaze on the roaster.

Sweet and juicy...a down-home meal worth remembering! =)

Ingredients:
Whole Roaster Chicken
Salt and Pepper
Sweet Spanish Pepper
3-4 scallions or onions, chopped
1 Tbsp of dried Tarragon
1/2 cup Maple Syrup

Mixed Vegetables:
Broccoli
Carrots
Cauliflower
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar with Maple Syrup (Bittersweet Herb Farm)
1 Tbsp of dried Thyme

Directions:
Prepare a baking sheet covered with tin foil with a cookie rack on top. Heat oven at 375 degrees F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Coat with sweet Spanish paprika. Stuff with chopped scallions or onions and dried Tarragon. Pour maple syrup all over the roasted (inside and out). Place chicken on a roaster pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Baste chicken with the maple syrup juices/drippings every 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature at 300 degrees F and continue to bake chicken for another 30-40 minutes until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F.

While chicken is roasting, take a big bowl and mix in all the vegetables (carrots-broccoli-cauliflower) together. Add extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Place the mixed vegetables below the roasting chicken half way through its cooking period. This will allow the vegetables not to be over cooked and to catch all the flavored drippings from the chicken onto the vegetable.

Serve with a fresh spinach salad and dressing of your choice. This is a one hearty meal. Enjoy!!!