Roasted Chicken With Figs and Rosemary

It's officially the beginning of autumn! So I thought I would share with you my new favorite dish for fall entertaining. I love cooking with figs, especially when they're in season. Whenever I find them at the grocery store, they come home with me. And sometimes I don't even know how I'll cook them, but all I know is that they can be thrown onto salads, or even wrapped in prosciutto. This time around though, I quickly googled "chicken and figs" and well this company-worthy recipe came up.

Anytime I cook a new recipe, I read or skim through the reviews. So as some of the reviewers pointed out, leeks and potatoes are good ingredients to add to this dish. One even added olives.

This company-worthy recipe is a new favorite for fall entertaining. If you don't find fresh figs, try the dried version. The chicken is marinated with orange zest, rosemary and garlic, and then roasted in the oven with figs, leeks, jalapeños, and a few potatoes. The figs melt down to a delicious, sweet jammy sauce. Garnish with orange wedges and fresh rosemary to wow your guests, and serve with a good bottle of Pinot Noir. Now, who's coming over for dinner?

Roasted Chicken with Figs and Rosemary

• 4 1/2 lbs bone-in chicken parts
• 1 Tbsp coarse kosher salt
• 3 rosemary sprigs, needles removed from stems
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest, plus orange wedges for serving
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly grated
• 1 lb ripe figs, stemmed and quartered
• 2 jalapeños, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced
• 2 leeks
• 1 lb of small potatoes
• Olive oil for drizzling

In a large bowl, toss chicken with salt, rosemary, garlic, orange zest, pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. The longer the better.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread chicken pieces out on two rimmed baking sheets, making sure there is plenty of room between the pieces. Drizzle with some olive oil and cook for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes are up, add the figs, leeks, jalapeños, and potatoes. Drizzle everything generously with olive oil and sprinkle a little kosher salt and pepper.

Roast, switching the position of the baking pans after 15 minutes so everything browns evenly, until the chicken is golden and cooked through. This should take about 25 to 30 minutes for the breast meat, and 30 to 40 minutes for the dark meat.

Garnish chicken with the orange wedges for squeezing, if you like, and fresh rosemary.

Serve with a good bottle of Pinot Noir.

For dessert, serve with this Apricot Rum Cake.