Recipe of the Month: Engagement Chicken

I’ve probably read 50 articles about ‘Engagement Chicken’. You know, that melt-in-your-mouth, juicy, roasted-to-sweet-perfection chicken that is so good your boyfriend proposes to you on the spot when you serve it to him? If you don’t know, you can read about it here. The whole idea seems a little silly to me. But here’s the thing: I have one. I can’t say it’s ever gotten me a marriage proposal, but it is safe to say that is has garnered many and ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ from a boyfriend or two. It’s my mother’s recipe, actually. She would whip it up for dinner on cold winter nights and my father would wander into the kitchen with a dreamy look in his eyes just at the scent (and that’s saying something, because Dad knew how to cook). I would watch him half-drooling over that delicious smell of roasting chicken and think, ‘Oh! So this is what makes men fall in love’.

Roasting a whole chicken is a little terrifying (not to mention carving one!). Instead, I buy a whole chicken already cut into 8 pieces or bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and breasts. Served with a drizzle of the herby olive oil the chicken was roasted in, no one will notice the difference.

Engagement Chicken

Serves 2

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ½ cup of olive oil, 2 cloves chopped garlic, and a small handful each of chopped parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. In a glass baking dish, rub the mixture over about 2 lbs of chicken, making sure to get plenty under the skin. If you have time, let the chicken sit overnight and marinate in the refrigerator. If not, it will still taste great if everything is combined just before the chicken goes in the oven.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour and 15 minutes and voilà! You can expect that proposal any second now.

-Marissa