Chicken tray bake recipe
Add this recipe to your repertoire and enjoy as a midweek meal or a spectacular centrepiece at your next dinner party.
A few weeks ago I presented you with my effortless olive oil cake, a cake that can be comfortably rolled out for any occasion, rather like your favourite pair of jeans. Today, I follow that theme and offer a zesty, jammy, one-tray chicken dish. Whether it becomes your new favourite midweek dish or a spectacular centrepiece at your next dinner party, I am confident it will be bound for your recipe repertoire.
It’s a household staple at my place, firstly because of its flavour. It’s everything I want in a chicken dish – crispy skin, tender meat, sweet, sticky tomatoes that burst in your mouth, and flavour-packed, golden potatoes, all of which swim in a zesty sauce that demands every last bit be mopped up. Secondly, it’s easy. This is the kind of cooking that doesn’t demand a lot from you. More and more, this is the sort of cooking I am drawn to.
I have been a latecomer to the whole one-pot/pan/tray type of cooking. It’s not because I didn’t appreciate the idea that everything can cook together with minimal intervention yet still deliver what it’s meant to – a dish that is crisp and golden, not a steamed or soggy tragedy. It’s like some sort of cooking trickery. Truth be told, my hesitancy was because I like to be involved in absolutely everything and, wherever possible, control it. As we all know, there’s no controlling life; but cooking, well, you can mostly have control over that. But as life becomes fuller at nearly every stage, it’s these throw-it-all-together meals that are providing so much joy in my kitchen. If convenience still delivers flavour, impact and deliciousness, I am all here for it; with this dish, I am absolutely OK to relinquish cooking control to the mighty oven. I hope you feel liberated to do the same.
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RECIPE: One-tray chicken
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
- 500g kipfler potatoes, peeled and chopped into, roughly, 2cm pieces
- 500g cherry tomatoes, left whole
- ½ cup green olives in brine, pitted and halved
- ¼ cup olive brine
- ½ cup capers in vinegar, drained
- 4 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
- ½ lemon – halved, then finely sliced, skin, flesh and all
- ½ cup fresh oregano, leaves picked
- Salt flakes, freshly ground pepper
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Method
- Preheat oven to 200C. In a large, deep-sided baking dish, add potatoes, cherry tomatoes, olives along with their brine, capers, garlic cloves and lemon slices. Place your chicken pieces on top.
- Using a mortar and pestle (or small food processor), smash together your oregano leaves with a generous pinch of salt. You’re looking to create a chunky paste. If you don’t have either piece of equipment you can cut the salt into the oregano on a board. (If you do this, you will then need to scoop it up and add it to a bowl for oil and vinegar.) Stir in olive oil and vinegar.
- Drizzle your oregano oil all over the traybake and massage it into the chicken pieces. Snuggle chicken, skin side up, on top of everything. Season with extra salt and pepper.
- Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until golden, bubbling, juicy and irresistible.
- Give your potatoes a quick prod to ensure they are also cooked through.
- Serve in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves, especially to the delicious juices.
Serves 4.