Chicken with Roasted Grapes and Shallots

Hey There:

I have two dishes that I normally do when I have company and/or want to impress 'someone'. My first one is Cochinita Pibil (I seem to have misplaced the link, I'll re-post this recipe) and today I'll show you my second favorite: Chicken with Roasted Grapes and Shallots.

I found this recipe from Bon Appetite magazine and you can get to it from the Epicurious site. A small disclaimer here, I don't take pretty food pics, you should see the pics my friend Darlene from My Burning Kitchen takes, if you're a foodie that's a blog to follow!

The recipe is very easy to do and looks impressive!

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds assorted seedless grapes (such as green, red, and black), cut into small clusters
6 large shallots (about 10 ounces), peeled, halved through root end
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme plus 6 large sprigs
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 4-to 4 1/2-pound chicken, excess fat removed from cavity

Preheat oven to 400°F. Gently toss grape clusters, shallots, chopped thyme, and 1 tablespoon olive oil in large bowl to coat. Rub chicken with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil; sprinkle inside and out with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place thyme sprigs in cavity. Place chicken in large roasting pan; arrange grape mixture around chicken.

 Roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken thigh registers 165°F and grapes are shriveled, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter; let rest 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, arrange grapes and shallots around chicken. Transfer pan juices to small pitcher; spoon fat from surface of juices and discard. Serve chicken with pan juices alongside.

<I left the chicken a little too long in the oven, so the grapes shriveled a little too much. Normally they will tasted cooked, but plump and sweeter>

The night I made this recipe a British couch surfer who was staying at my place and I invited my friend, awesome San Diego country singer, Sara Petite over. I normally have rice pilaf as a side dish, but my couch surfer offered to make Mac n Cheese, plus I made a salad. We had a great night, the three of us had second helpings so we pretty much finished off everything.