Herb Roasted Chicken with Potato Gnocchi, Quinoa and Vegetables

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 

1 Chicken (2 ½ to 3 pounds)

1 Lemon

1 Onion, peeled and quartered

3 Sprigs of Rosemary

1 Bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley

1 Pound of Baby Carrots, peeled or Regular Carrots, cut into ½ inch thick pieces

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into ½ inch thick pieces

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

½ Pound of Cherry Tomatoes

Potato Gnocchi

1 Pound of Starchy Potatoes such as Russets or Yukon Gold

½ cup of All Purpose Flour

1 Egg

1/3 cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt

Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon of Chopped Parsley

Sautéed Quinoa

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Small Onion or Shallot, diced
1 cup of Red Quinoa
2 – 2 1/2 cups of Water or stock
Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towel. Using a peeler, make two strips of lemon zest and insert under the skin of each breast of the chicken. Rub the chicken with the juice of half lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Slice the rest of the lemon and fill the cavity of the chicken along with some onions, a sprig of rosemary and parsley. Chop a sprig of rosemary and sprinkle on the chicken

2. In a roasting pan, mix the onions, a sprig of rosemary, carrots and butternut squash. Season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Put the chicken on top of the vegetables. Roast in a preheated 350°F oven for one hour. Baste the chicken a few times while roasting. Add the cherry tomatoes to the roasting pan on the last ten minutes of roasting.

3. For the potato gnocchi, cut the potatoes in half. Boil the potatoes in salted water until very soft. Drain the potatoes and let it cool for 5 minutes just until it is comfortable to touch. Peel the potatoes, and then mash the potatoes using a potato ricer, a sieve or a fork. Add the egg, flour and parmesan cheese, and mix until soft dough is formed. Divide the dough into four pieces. Dust with more flour. Roll each piece into a shape of a long rope. Cut the gnocchi about 1 inch long. Poach the gnocchi ten pieces at a time in salted boiling water with olive oil. The gnocchi will float when ready.

Drain and set aside on a platter with olive oil and chopped parsley.

4. For the quinoa, sauté the diced onion or shallots in a frying pan with olive oil. Add the quinoa and sauté for five minutes. Add 2 cups of the water, salt and pepper. Let it simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the rest of the water if you like the quinoa to be softer.

5. After one hour, your roasted chicken is ready, as well as your vegetables and natural sauce (jus) from the chicken. For presentation, carve the chicken. Separate the breasts and the legs. On the platter with the gnocchi, put the quinoa and arrange the roasted vegetables all around. Put the carved chicken on top. Drizzle the natural juices from the pan or serve on the side.

Health Canada recommends an internal temperature of 175°F for roasting a whole chicken.

Health Benefits

Chicken is perhaps best known for its high protein content, but it is a food that actually provides broad nutrient support. With respect to protein, one 4-ounce serving of pasture-raised chicken breast provides about 35 grams of protein, or 70% of the Daily Value (DV). Included in this excellent protein content are plentiful amounts of sulfur-containing amino acids like cysteine and methionine, as well as branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) that are important for support of cardiac and skeletal muscle. All B vitamins are present in chicken meat, including B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, folate, biotin, and choline. (There remains controversy over the biotin content of chicken meat, which appears to be smaller than the average 10-microgram amount of biotin in chicken eggs and which seems more sensitive to the chicken's dietary intake.) Chicken is a particularly helpful food for obtaining vitamin B3, since it provides about 77% of the DV per serving and ranks as an excellent source of this B vitamin. About one-third of the DV for vitamin B6 is provided by 4 ounces of chicken breast, which also provides about 20% of the DV for choline.
In terms of minerals, chicken is richest in selenium and provides about 45% of the DV in a single 4-ounce serving. Zinc, copper, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron are also provided by this food.http://www.whfoods.com