Chicken Roasted with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Olives

This recipe started out as my roast chicken with potatos and onions (Still no photos!).  I jazzed it up with olives, diced tomatoes and a few aromatic spices to give it more of a Mediterranean flair.  Similar recipes use green olives, but I used black olives, mostly because I didn't think to buy more than the one little jar of the green stuff for my meatloaf.

The quantity of black olives in the ingredients list may seem a bit weird, but only the drained weight was listed on the can I used.  If the brand of canned olives you use only lists total weight, I'd guesstimate my can size at about 14 ozs.  Hope that's clear. 

 On the other hand, we are not baking a cake here ... use the amount of olives you have at hand (in hand?  In can?).  Dinner will still be delicious.  I promise.

Chicken Roasted with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Olives
Yield: 4-6 servings

2 Tbl. olive oil
4 small to medium red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 chicken, cut into eighths and some (not all!) skin removed
4 tsp. chopped garlic (about 4 garlic cloves)
1/4 tsp.  ground cinnamon
1tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 (14 oz. can) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup white wine
Juice from 1 lemon (about 3 Tbl. lemon juice)
1 (6 oz. drained) can pitted black olive, drained
1/2 loosely packed cut cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Heat the oven to 425 degrees.  Coat the bottom of a wide, heavy pot (about 8 quart sized, like a dutch oven) with the olive oil.
Add potato quarters.  Cover evenly with sliced onions.

Arrange chicken parts in a single layer on top.  Plop on the garlic and sprinkle with the cinnamon, paprika, salt and pepper..  Drop on the diced tomatoes.

Pour in the wine and lemon juice.

Dot with the olives. 

Place in the oven and bake uncovered for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.  Garnish with cilantro, either the whole batch or each serving.
 

Either way, serve hot.