Lemon-garlic chicken, rosemary potatoes, and a late-summer vegetable gratin make up this hands-off menu.
When your ingredients are incredibly fresh, they need little else to make them shine. Though this late-summer menu is inspired by author Martha Holmberg’scooking vacation in the south of France, you need not buy a transatlantic ticket to enjoy the same rustic Mediterranean flavors. A simple lemon roast chicken is accompanied by a gratin of summer squash and tomatoes, and roasted potatoes with rosemary. The meal begins and ends with simple no-cook nibbles: assorted olives to start, and artisanal cheeses with seasonal fruit for dessert.
Menu Timeline
If you don’t have two ovens, roast the potatoes and gratin in the same oven with the chicken after you’ve reduced the temperature to 350°F. When chicken is done, raise the temperature to 375°F while the chicken is resting, to help the potatoes and gratin finish browning.
Two hours ahead:
- Slice and cook the onions for the gratin.
- Preheat one oven to 425°F
- Slice the tomatoes and squash for the gratin.
- Toss the potatoes with oil and rosemary
- Prep and truss the chicken
Ninety minutes ahead:
- Preheat the second oven to 375°F.
- Put the chicken in the oven to roast.
- Assemble the gratin.
- Reduce oven that chicken is roasting in to 350°F
- Put the gratin in the second oven.
One hour ahead:
- Put the potatoes in the second oven to roast
Fifteen minutes before dinner:
- Remove chicken from the oven and tent with foil.
- Remove gratin from oven.
- Make pan sauce for chicken.
- Just before serving, remove potatoes from the oven
Shopping List
Fresh Produce
- 2 lb. waxy potatoes (such as Red Bliss or fingerling)
- 1-1/4 lb. ripe red tomatoes
- 2 medium onions (14 oz. total)
- 3/4 lb. zucchini or other green summer squash (about 2 small)
- 3/4 lb. yellow summer squash or golden zucchini (about 2 small)
- 1 small bunch thyme
- 1 small bunch rosemary
- 1 bulb garlic
- 2 large lemons
- Fresh seasonal fruit, for dessert
Meat, Eggs & Dairy
- 1 4-1/2-lb. chicken
- 1 3-oz. chunk Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
- Assorted cheeses, for dessert
Other Groceries
- Assorted olives, for a starter
- 1 cup low-salt chicken broth (or use homemade)
- 1/3 cup sweet vermouth
- 3 Tbs. duck fat (or substitute the same amount of unsalted butter or olive oil)
Pantry Staples
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp. herbes de Provence
- 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
- Kosher salt
- Black peppercorns
