Roasting a chicken can feel eventful in a sense because of how much care and attention it might need on any given day. The key to making the perfect roast chicken is similar to the crucial points of any slow-cooked recipe – time, attention, plenty of flavour and delicious leftovers for later. This one pan traybake, although a novel concept at first, is one of the best ways to ensure that your chicken cooks evenly across a flat surface. A few things to keep in mind while traybaking your chicken is to try and use chicken with the bone in and the skin on, so it becomes brown and crispy as it bakes.
This Italian-style roast chicken with sweet roasted bell peppers and salty olives are a contrast of flavours that work beautifully to compliment the bland flavour of the bird. Not only is this traybake recipe saving you the labour of washing up a million dishes after, it demands to simply assemble everything on a baking tray and forget about it until it’s time to eat. The bright and briny flavours from the vegetables compliment the mildly spiced chicken, making it perfect for those who follow a keto diet. Serve this on its own for dinner or along with some crusty bread to soak up the delicious juices if you’re not following a diet.
Recipe:
Ingredients
- 500 grams chicken thighs
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 red onion
- 8-10 whole garlic cloves
- 3 rosemary sprigs
- ¼ cup black olives
- 1 lemon, halved
- 2 leeks, diced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Image Credits: Nigellisima
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Wash and pat dry the chicken thighs and make shallow slits on the skin with a sharp knife. Season generously with salt and pepper and rub some olive oil on all sides of the chicken and arrange on a baking tray.
- Cut the bell peppers and onion into halves and cut each half into fours or sixes, depending on the size of your vegetables. Scatter them in the gaps between the chicken on the tray. Keep the garlic cloves in the peel and add them to the crevices.
- Squeeze the juice of the halved lemons on to the chicken and place the rinds close, so the meat absorbs the citrus scent while baking. Add the diced leek on top of all the vegetables followed by the rosemary springs.
- Drizzle all the vegetables with olive oil but wait to season them after they have cooked through completely. Stick the tray into the oven and bake everything for about 60-65 minutes, until the juices from the chicken start to run clear.
- Remove the tray and rest it in the open for 10-15 minutes before giving everything a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper as well as the olives. Transfer the chicken and vegetables to a large serving platter and eat warm, with or without some bread on the side.