I have never been one to reject a plateful of brown food. In fact, many nights, it’s all I crave. What, may you ask, is brown food? When your meal has the color palette of a pile of burlap sacks, at its most vibrant point, you have brown food on your hands. Usually, this means it’s a plate that you aren’t particularly proud of and don’t necessarily leap over hurdles to share on social media.

Why don’t I rush to share my barnyard-sized trough of noodles tossed with parmesan and cut up chicken breast on instagram? Typically, the toneless variety of consumption that includes platters of fried catfish, heaps of penne with cheese, and mounds of mashed taters with gravy has little to no nutritional value. Furthermore, without a beautiful plate or finishing of green, such foods may not be worthy of a dinner party centerpiece or a viral social media post. I am apt to believe that this very dilemma is where the sprinkling of parsley and the shoving of curly kale around the dish’s perimeter originated. Nothing distracts from fried and butter-soaked than a beautiful dusting of freshly chopped chives, right?

When food is vibrant and colorful–unless the color is provided by red dye number five, mind you–it is a sign of nature and health being present. I believe amongst the wellness bloggers of the world, the phrase “eat the rainbow” is used to express this simple guide towards eating more whole. The beauty of a dish infused with an abundance of color is an added bonus bringing the visual score well above that platter of fried cutlets. 

The chicken on today’s menu embodies and embraces color found in nature. Turmeric is one of, if not the most common “yellowing” spice out there. It’s characteristic yellow staining comes along with a beautiful aroma and a light bitter taste. It is this bitterness, however, that I was concerned with when I set out to make a roasted chicken as golden as the sun. If you use too much turmeric, either fresh or ground, the bitterness can overwhelm and sour the dish, as a whole. 

Golden beets are roasted and incorporated into the marinade bringing not only more sunlight but natural sugars that caramelize onto the skin as the bird roasts. Fresh garlic, that turmeric we’ve been discussing, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, and olive oil round out the marinade and guarantee the most beautiful flavor (and color).

The marinade can sit for up to eight hours and as little as two hours. This allows this dish to appear on a weeknight, with the chicken alright to sit while you work or it can moonlight on a sunday evening, with the bird intent to rest all day while you watch on nearby.

After the marination completes its duty, the chicken is surrounded in the roasting pan (or cast iron, viva la cast iron, for me) with quartered lemons caramelize as the roast goes. The lemons, unlike that tasteless foliage of deli case garnish, add flavor to the pan drippings for a bright and deeply complex sauce. Also, lemons are yellow. After all, let’s stay on theme, shall we? The recipe is below this lovely, sunshiney chicken photo.

I stood over the stove and pretty much polished off all of this chicken before it made it onto a plate. This was one of those times when you attempt a new dish and it turns out even better than you had hoped. I actually danced around the kitchen while I ate–it wasn’t a very grand dance, more like slight wriggling, since my “kitchen” is only about 32 inches wide but hey, a dance nonetheless.

The whole chicken is split and slow-roasted on the bone, covered nearly halfway with a lemon and white wine bath. It is surrounded by generous amounts of wild mushrooms, fresh thyme, garlic cloves, and lemon slices. My intention, originally, was to make mashed teeny potatoes (because those are the cutest kind of potato) to eat with this dish but I didn’t get that far or even care to. This dish is rich and complex from the roasted flavors and as bright as the sun is when you’re driving towards it in traffic at that awkward time of the day (but not as painful); this chicken is near perfection.

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