Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Quinoa (for One)

Chicken and Vegetables Roasted in wine with Caramelized Onions and Quinoa. 

Chicken roasted in white wine with tomatoes, asparagus, and green beans: 

I adapted the Roasted Chicken Recipe with Asparagus from Jamie Oliver (Thanks Josh Garrison for introducing me to his cooking). It is a nice simple recipe.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. In the meantime, halve some grape tomatoes, cut some asparagus into diagonal pieces, add some green beans if you would like or alternate them as a cheaper alternative to asparagus.

Mix all of this in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and of course, your chicken. I use bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs from Costco*.

Create an aluminum foil tray. Put this mixture in the tray and pour some white wine, I hear dry wine (such as chardonnay) is good for cooking. Put it in the oven for 35 minutes.

People would kill for that tan

The nice thing about this recipe is that you are now done with this part and you can go about your busy life. For me that means quantum physics homework, chatting my fiancee <3, or research for my lab. Or, you can make a nice side dish such as caramelized onions with quinoa.

*****By the way, Costco chicken thighs are only $1/lb and come in packs of 11 pounds. You may wonder, "I can't eat all that chicken, it will surely go bad!" Fortunately, the chicken comes in 6 separable freezer ready packs with 4 thighs each. This way you can always have a few thighs in the fridge which you can easily use in a week before they go bad. 

Caramelized Onions with Quinoa:

While the chicken is in the oven slice half of a jumbo yellow onion (more/less depending on your love of onions). If you aren't very confident with you knife skills I suggest watching some Youtube videos, they really improved my cutting abilities. Here is one for slicing and chopping an onion I like.

Slicing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coxVzC4tcYw
Chopping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDjNl5gs4nM
Important here: Do not cut all the way through as they stated, this keeps the onion intact.

With about 25 minutes left on your timer for the chicken, heat some olive oil over medium heat. As well, mix 1 cup of water with 1/2 cup of quinoa*** (also very reasonably priced at Costco) in a pot and bring to a boil. Once the quinoa is boiling turn down to low heat, cover, and let cook for approx 15-20 minutes.
With about 20 minutes left your olive oil will be plenty warm so throw in the sliced onions and stir/flip periodically for the next 20 minutes to a get a nice caramelized flavor. Add some salt and pepper while they are in the pan.

*****Quinoa is a great substitute for rice in both flavor and healthiness. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=142&tname=foodspice

Bringing it all Together:

The quinoa is ready when all the moisture as been absorbed and the quinoa has "popped" open to reveal it's inner white germ.  Mix the quinoa with caramelized onion mixture (including the leftover oil), paprika, and salt/pepper to taste. If desired, mix in a small amount of balsamic vinegar as well.
Finally, remove the chicken when the timer is done (you should have a nice brown on the skin) and drizzle balsamic vinegar. For presentation, keep the chicken mixture in the foil and serve; however, later on in the meal I suggest mixing the chicken/wine juices with the quinoa for a great taste!
Serve with an Orange and Enjoy!

Best,
ZB