Autumn Roasted Chicken and Sausages with Balsamic Drizzle

Last week, two days before Thanksgiving, we had 10 people for dinner.  Sound crazy?  Nah.  Not so much.  Knowing last week would be a little crazy, we had planned to have take-out, so that took the craziness right out of the equation.  Until I happened to spy this recipe.  Autumn Roasted Chicken and Sausages with Balsamic Drizzle.  I mean, doesn’t that just scream “make me?”  No?  Well… let me just put it this way, if you have five minutes, you can make this dish.  And once I saw that, thoughts of take-out went right out the window.

One of our guests brought a salad.  Wait, she brought two salads.  And then I made these cupcakes, but a mini version, for Nick‘s class as part of their Thanksgiving feast the next day.  The recipe made enough to get 24 mini cupcakes, and 12 regular sized cupcakes, so that took care of dessert.  A little bit of guacamole and chips to start, and dinner was done.  Faster than take-out would have gotten here, cheaper and hey, it probably tasted better too.

Roasting seriously makes everything wonderful.  Whether it’s a vegetable or meat, it’s easy, dummy-proof and yields delicious results time and time again.  I love the roasted sausages in this dish.  I’m partial to ShopRite’s sweet Italian sausage, and that’s what I used here.  They make them in-house and they have just the right amount of everything to make them my go-to source.  This recipe called for seedless black grapes in it.  I’m partial to the longer green ones for snacking, but to give it a chance, I did include the black ones in this dish.  I don’t think I would next time.  Their addition didn’t really do anything for me really, but more bothersome is that while cooking, their color rubbed off on the chicken and potatoes, making little purple spots here and there.  Not cool.

Purple spots aside, this recipe is a definite make-ahead.  You can’t beat the ease of it, and it lets you have 10 for dinner, while making turkey cupcakes, without blinking an eye.  And the kids?  Ate every last bite.  Kid-approved, time-friendly, and feeding a crowd for under $20.  Sign me up.

Autumn Roasted Chicken and Sausages with Balsamic Drizzle
Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

• 4 pieces bone-in chicken thighs with legs attached
• 1 pound Italian sweet sausages
• 3 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
• 3 to 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, 2 finely chopped
• 7 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme, 4 finely chopped
• 12 baby potatoes, such as baby Yukon gold
• 8 shallots, halved through root and peeled or 4 small red onions, quartered through root end
• 1 pound bunch black seedless grapes, snipped into small clusters
• Balsamic drizzle, to garnish

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a large, shallow roasting pan, dress chicken and sausages with about 1 tablespoon of EVOO. Season with chopped rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.

Toss the potatoes, shallots and black grapes with remaining EVOO, salt and pepper and add to the roasting pan. Bundle the rosemary and thyme sprigs and toss them in the pan as well. Roast 45-50 minutes until the meat juices run clear and the chicken skin and sausage casings are crispy.

To serve, arrange meat, sausage, potatoes, shallots and grapes on dinner plates and garnish with pan juices and balsamic drizzle.