Roast Chicken with Spinach-Mushroom Stew

This came about with quite some inspiration from the 'Sunday supper' of the September issue of Bon Appétit. Some ingredients were changed but the main idea is quite similar.

Ingredients:
tubers:
- 8 medium-sized potatoes, diced
- sunchokes (about half as much as potatoes), diced
- fresh thyme
- a little olive oil
- salt & pepper
chicken:
- a 1.3 kg (shy of 3 lbs) chicken
- salt & pepper
- fresh oregano
- 1 dL (²/₅ cup) dry sherry
- 2 dL (⁴/₅ cup) water
spinach-mushroom stew:
- oil
- 2 yellow onions, chopped coarsely
- 3 portabello mushrooms, sliced
- salt
- 1.2 kg (2 ²/₃ lb) frozen spinach
- 1 jalapeño chilli, finely chopped
- pan juices from roast chicken

The potatoes and the sunchokes were rinsed, diced and put in a an oven-proof tray together with leaves of fresh thyme, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. The tubers were roasted at 200 C (400 F) for 1.5 hours.

The chicken was rubbed with salt and pepper - and leaves of fresh oregano was put wherever I could find a spot (inside, under the wing, under the leg, in every crease of the skin .. etc.). The chicken was placed in an oven-proof tray and added the sherry and the water. The chicken was roasted in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for 1 h and 10 minutes.

The coarsely chopped onions were sautéed in a little oil, then added sliced portabello mushrooms and salt. After some additional minutes, frozen spinach was added together with a finely chopped jalapeño (not de-seeded). The pot was covered, but stirred occasionally until the spinach was thawed and heated through. Finally, the pan juices from the chicken roast were added and the stew was seasoned to taste with salt.

The tubers could quite possibly do with shorter roasting time, but the chicken - meat falling off of the bones goodness. The spinach-mushroom stew was a nice touch, and one that I think I'll be making variations on in the future.