Roasted Chicken with Beets and Goat Cheese

I'm really not a fan of "make ahead" or "prepare on the weekend" recipes. The idea is ok in general, but when you want to spend one Sunday not cooking and cleaning all day suddenly you end up with nothing to eat for dinner and resorting to take out. 

This recipe requires a little advanced attention.

This is because beet are, in all honesty, a pain in the ass. They take a long time to cook and they stain everything. But, they also taste great  are good for you and go perfectly with goat cheese. So sometimes you just need to give in.

Good thing is, the "preparing" that's required is just sticking in an oven for a while and then keeping in foil until you're ready to cook. The peeling leaves much to be desired, unless you desire pink hands and then you're good to go. But in the end it's mostly worth it, though I'd be open to trying the canned variety next time. 

• 4 chicken thighs (skin on, bone in)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil to drizzle
• 3 large beets, cleaned
• 2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
• 2T parsley, chopped

Advance work: Preheat oven to 375*. Please cleaned beets on tin foil on a baking sheet. Roast for 1 hour or until they become tender when poked with a knife. Wrap in the foil and put in the fridge until use.

Preheat oven to 400*.

Place chicken thighs skin-up in a baking dish. Sprinkle with a good dose of salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 40 minutes or until cooked through and the skin is crispy.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the beets. Peel the beets (wear gloves for this, or accept pink fingers for the next few days) and chop into wedges. Place in a baking dish and sprinkle with chunks of goat cheese, salt and pepper.

15 minutes before the chicken is done, put the beets and cheese in the oven on a lower shelf. Remove at the same time you remove the chicken.

Split the chicken, beets and melty cheese between two plates and sprinkle with parsley.