Oven Roasted Chicken & Potato with Tomato and Asparagus

Peel and cut into quarters and place into a pot of salted water and let simmer over medium high heat.

You don't need to remove the bone but I find it helps the cooking time. With the bone off slice the thighs into strips. This will give you more pieces to spread through the casserole and give it a better balance. While on the cutting board take the time to season the chicken on both sides before frying it.

Heat your pan over medium high heat till hot then add the oil and butter. Once the butter has melted lay in all our chicken pieces.

Taking the skin off makes these just ooze flavor and since you have a pot of water on boiling why dirty another pot for a ten second dip. Just pot them in and have a spider ready to pull them out right away. You'll see in a matter of second the skin bursting on the ends.

With the skins already split it's really easy to remove them by simply squeezing the tomato in your fingers. The skin will just pop off. If any of them have not split all ready you could either pop them back in the boiling water for a few seconds or use a knife and give them a quick cut on one end and the skin will then just slide off.

Of course it's great to have fresh herbs in the garden and they are so easy to grow but if you don't have your own you can buy fresh. Dried just doesn't do the trick here. Remove them from the stalks and finely chop them up.

Prep your asparagus by snapping off the woody ends and washing them. Drain the potatoes and leave in the pot. Add a nice helping of olive oil. throw in your chopped herbs and give it all a good toss to combine. pour this into the casserole dish and add the tomatoes. Be sure to get them coated in the oil as well. I don't toss them with the potatoes as I didn't want them to break just yet.

The chicken has been nicely browned on both sides so now you can add them to the casserole dish. Don't be afraid to pour some of the rendered fat from the chicken right over everything. Make sure everything is sitting flat around the same level. Lay the asparagus over the top of everything. Zest the lemon over everything and then squeeze the juice as well. Give a light drizzle of olive oil over the asparagus then season everything with salt and pepper.

Place the dish uncovered into a 375 degree oven and bake till you see the potatoes starting to take on some color. Approximately 20 to 25 minutes. The asparagus should be tender and well cooked by then as well. Place this in the center of the dinner table and dig in.