Baked Chicken and Zucchini

August heat. The construction sites are kilns. Three crews, three sites, and me driving between them in a truck with an air conditioner that works only when it wants to, which is roughly sixty percent of the time, which is the truck's way of maintaining the Hensley percentage system. The back is bad this month. The discs are having a convention in my lower spine and the agenda is pain. I'm managing. Managing is what I do. Managing is the Hensley family motto, which should be stitched on a pillow: "Hensleys: We Manage."

Amber called with news: she's being promoted. Six months in the ER and they're making her a charge nurse on the night shift. Charge nurse means she runs the ER during her shifts — she's in charge of assignments, patient flow, and crisis management. At twenty-four. My daughter runs an emergency room at twenty-four. Betty ran a kitchen at twenty-four. Earl ran a mining crew at twenty-four. The Hensley tradition of taking charge before you're technically ready continues, and it continues at higher and higher altitudes, from the mine to the kitchen to the hospital.

This week Clay and I went to Evarts. Monthly trip. We weeded the garden, mowed the lawn, fixed a loose board on the porch. Betty cooked for us — chicken and dumplings, from her hands, in her kitchen. The dumplings were perfect. They're always perfect. I'm at ninety-five percent on dumplings. Clay is at seventy-eight. Betty is at one hundred and will be at one hundred until the day she can't cook anymore, and even then the one hundred will live in the kitchen the way Earl lives in the cemetery — present, permanent, the standard against which everything else is measured.

On the drive home, Clay said "I want to bring Rodriguez to Evarts. He needs to eat Betty's cooking." Rodriguez, the friend from Afghanistan. The friend who read the blog and whose abuela compared my bean writing to religion. Clay wants to bring him to Evarts. Clay is planning future trips to Evarts that include people who aren't family. That's social planning. That's forward thinking. That's a man who is not just surviving but planning to share his survival with someone else. The trajectory continues upward.

Betty’s chicken and dumplings are a hundred percent — always were, always will be — and I’m not fool enough to try to replicate them here. But driving home from Evarts with a full stomach and Clay talking about bringing Rodriguez down to meet her, I started thinking about what I could do on my own on a Wednesday night when the back is bad and the crews are squared away and I just need something warm and uncomplicated in the oven. This baked chicken and zucchini is that dish: honest ingredients, minimal fuss, the kind of thing Betty would approve of because it doesn’t try to be more than it is.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 lbs total)
3 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving

Instructions

Preheat. Heat your oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and set aside.
Season the chicken. Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, thyme, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Rub 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil over the chicken, then coat evenly with the spice mixture.
Prep the zucchini. Toss the zucchini rounds with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Spread in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Arrange and bake. Nestle the seasoned chicken thighs among the zucchini on the baking sheet, skin side up. Transfer to the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken skin is golden and crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 165°F.
Finish with Parmesan. In the last 5 minutes of baking, scatter the grated Parmesan over the zucchini and return to the oven until melted and lightly browned.
Rest and serve. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving. Plate with the roasted zucchini and a wedge of lemon on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Baked Chicken and Zucchini — Betty’s Kitchen Lives On in Every Pan