Last night we had pan-roasted chicken, which was a sort of amalgam of two recipes, one from Marcella Hazan and one from Cook's Illustrated. It was extremely easy and really good!
I bought a chicken and asked my butcher to cut it into serving pieces for me (my butchers are awesome guys). I already had garlic, rosemary, and white wine, because I usually do, and I had some proscuitto (although pancetta would have been better IMO).
I browned the prosciutto until the fat rendered in a bit of butter & olive oil in my big Le Creuset braiser (I mention this because it's important that the pan be big and able to go in the oven). I took five cloves of garlic and sliced them thin, and cooked till they were golden. Then I removed them.
I added about a tsp more of olive oil and added the chicken pieces skin-side down, and left them for a good five minutes until the skin was nice and golden, then flipped them over to brown the bottoms. Then I removed them. (Since my pan had a lid I just turned it upside down and set all the removed stuff into it.)
I added about a cup of white wine and about half a cup of chicken stock, and deglazed the pan/scraped up some of the fond. I dropped in two rosemary sprigs and let them simmer for thirty seconds or so. Then I dumped back in the prosciutto and garlic, and placed the chicken pieces in skin-side up. The liquid covered the bottom of the chicken but not the skin.
I stuck it into a 350F oven and let it cook uncovered for about an hour and ten minutes or so (until it reached safe temperature; actually it was well over but because of the liquid it wasn't dry at all).
Then I put the chicken on a platter, skimmed the fat from the cooking liquid, poured it into a saucepan, and simmered it for a few minutes; I added a tsp or two of cornstarch mixed with water and simmered another minute or so. Yummy--it wasn't quite thick enough to be a gravy, but it was fantastic on top of the crispy-skinned meat-falling-off-the-bone chicken pieces, and on the mash I made to go with it.
Very easy! I was really pleased with it.
Tonight it's burgers and fries.