Chicken with Lemon and Vegetables (with or without sleeve)

You will need one large lemon, or maybe two if the chicken is very large. Make cuts with a knife on all sides of the lemon. I make deep cuts on opposite sides of the lemon in a chessboard pattern.

Stuff the chicken with lemon. Optionally, coat the chicken with mustard or a mixture of honey and mustard in equal proportions to achieve a golden crust. Take a bag and tie a knot on one side if it is not sealed. Sometimes special clips come with the bag - use them if you have them. Place the chicken in the bag. I usually put the chicken in the bag first and then coat it, it's easier that way.

Dice the vegetables into fairly large cubes. I always use eggplant and/or zucchini, carrots, onions, and sweet peppers for texture variation, but you can change the set of ingredients and add vegetables as desired. Sometimes I add potatoes, and sometimes I only use onions and potatoes.

Slice the selected vegetables and add them to the bag with the chicken. Try to distribute the vegetables evenly around the chicken.

This time, in addition to the standard set of zucchini, peppers, onions, and carrots, I have fennel. I added it as well, it has a taste of anise and dill. In this case, I decided not to add spices. When all the vegetables are added, you can sprinkle them with spices as desired: a little pepper or herbs.

Now securely tie the bag or fasten it with a special clip. Do not use non-adapted plastic clips! I shake the bag several times to evenly distribute the vegetables. The longest part of this dish is chopping the vegetables. The ready-tied bag can be placed in the refrigerator and the dish can be cooked the next day by simply putting it in the oven. In this case, the chicken will marinate with lemon even better. Place the ready bag in the oven on the lowest rack. Take into account that the bag will expand during cooking and it should not touch the oven walls. This way, the chicken and vegetables will cook in their own juice without adding extra fat. Moreover, the baking sheet will remain clean. Cook the chicken in the bag at approximately 190 degrees for 40-60 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. At 200 degrees, the bag may burst. If the bag did get pricked and the juice leaked out, you will have to cook it a little longer - in that case, I reduce the temperature to 180 and increase the cooking time to 80 minutes. This dish can also be prepared without the bag, but with a large amount of olive oil (approximately 0.5 liters). Olive oil works best for this. Mix the vegetables and coat them well with oil on all sides (especially the eggplants), just like the chicken. In this case, you can also add tomatoes to the vegetables. Place the chicken in the center of the ovenproof dish, arrange all the vegetables around it, and drizzle with oil again. Cook for about 1 hour for a medium-sized chicken at 200 degrees. If the chicken is already nicely browned and the time is short, I cover it with parchment paper to prevent it from burning. Enjoy your meal!