Chicken with Roasted Vegetables
First, take your chicken ... (as Mrs Beeton, of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Hints, circa 18th Century, would say ... )
Serves 4 – If you want to serve more people or your friends are starving just increase the quantities of ingredients; easy! Serve on big dinner plates with a big green salad (just leaves will do, you’ve got all that healthy stuff there already), lots of crusty bread to mop up the juices, and a crisp white wine.
Ingredients:
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4 chicken breast fillets, halved |
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and halved lengthwise |
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3 capsicums, different colours eg red, green, yellow, sliced lengthways into four or six |
one large zucchini, sliced lengthways then into quarters |
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8 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthways |
lots of fresh herbs eg parsley, basil, oregano, ripped into shreds |
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salt and pepper (preferably fresh ground but I’m a snob like that) |
extra virgin olive oil |
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butter |
juice of one big lemon |
Method:
Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in the frying pan. Gently fry the chicken pieces on both sides until nicely golden on both sides. Remove and put on a plate to the side.
Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the baking dish. Chuck in all the vegetables (including the herbs and garlic), mixing them around to coat in the oil. Don’t all the different colours look pretty?
Put the baking dish into the oven and cook at around 180oC for 30 minutes or so. The veggies should start to melt but keep their shape. If the tomatoes shrivel up and blacken a little don’t panic – they’re supposed to be that way. Honest!
At some stage while the veggies are roasting, warm a little more olive oil in the frying pan (don’t wash it out after you’ve cooked the chicken in it, you don’t want to waste the yummy crunchy bits and juices from the chicken) and melt the butter in the oil. Don’t turn the heat up too much at this stage ‘cause you’ll burn the butter. Then squeeze in the lemon juice and let the lemon butter mixture bubble away gently for a couple of minutes. You can pour in a glass of the white wine you’re going to serve with the meal if you want (I do) but its not necessary.
Now …. take the veggies out of the oven. Arrange the chicken pieces on top. Pour the lemon butter mixture over the whole lot. Put back in the oven to warm through and amalgamate the flavours, for about 10-15 minutes.
That’s it. Serve as suggested.