Cast Iron Pans - Roasted Chicken

Homecooking in cast iron pots was the order of the weekend.

Friday night's menu was Greek Roasted Chicken, Mama's macaroni and cheese, sliced tomatoes with fresh basil, fresh lettuce and onions from the garden, homemade mashed potatoes and garlic toast.

The great thing about this menu is that even though it sounds complicated it really isn't. It takes about 1 minute to prepare the chicken. The thing that takes the time is that the chicken needs 2 to 2 1/2 hours in the oven. But, while the chicken is cooking, it's pretty simple to make mac n cheese, mash potatoes and slice tomatoes.

The most important thing is to have the right deep cast iron pot. I used my deep 10 inch chicken fryer pot. I used a 7 lb chicken sprinkled with Cavender's All Purpose Greek seasoning. My UNC-CH roommate and friend, Lee, introduced me to this spice in college and I still use it all the time. Every time I use Cavender's Greek seasoning, I think of a restaurant from days gone by in Charleston, SC called 'Olde Towne'. You could walk down the sidewalk and look inside the 'Olde Towne' windows and see chickens turning slowly on a rotisserie. I'm sure they made up their own greek seasonings, but Cavender's is pretty close to the 'Olde Towne' flavor.

Roasted Chicken in a Cast Iron Pot

1 6-7 lb chicken
Wash, remove giblets
Sprinkly liberally with Cavender's Greek Spice, you really don't need anything else

Put chicken and giblets into a deep cast iron frying pan, sprayed with a little Pam vegetable spray. No water, oil or anything else
I do not cover the chicken so the skin comes out really brown and crispy
Bake at 350 degrees - about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

It really doesn't get much simpler than that. You can use whatever spices you want, but I really like the greek flavors. And, you can roast chicken in other pots, but the even heat of the cast iron makes a difference.