pollo alla calabrese (chicken with potatoes, onions and tomatoes)

This perfect chicken dinner is the masterwork of Rosetta Costantino from her cookbook, My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy's Undiscovered South. It’s deceptively simple: a few ingredients thrown in a pan and roasted until everything melts together and each flavor brings out the best in the other. The tomatoes need to be truly ripe, so if it's not tomato time of year, use Roma or hot-house tomatoes. In summer heirlooms are perfect.

serves 4 to 6

prep time:15 minutes

roast time: about 1 hour

Preheat oven to 450°. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt and pepper and set aside.

Cut the potatoes into 2-inch chunks (do not peel). Core the tomatoes and cut them into 1-inch chunks. Halve the onion and slice about 1/2-inch thick. Peel and halve the garlic cloves. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables with the oregano and olive oil. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons salt and several grindings of pepper and mix well. With a slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to a baking dish large enough to hold them in one layer, such as a 9x13-inch glass or ceramic dish. Put the chicken in the bowl used for the vegetables and turn chicken to coat it in the oil and herbs left behind (if necessary, drizzle in a little more oil). Place the chicken skin side up on top of the vegetables in the dish and sprinkle with paprika and cayenne.

Bake on bottom rack of the oven until skin is crisp and golden, about 35 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over and continue to bake until the chicken juices run clear, potatoes are tender and pan juices are absorbed, 20 to 30 minutes more. Serve immediately.

note: you can also use a cut-up whole chicken, but the breast meat will cook faster and should be removed earlier.