But that said, not everyone wants or needs a whole chicken. Sometimes it's a bit daunting as well for some people to get to grips with a roast (even if it's one of the easiest things to cook in my opinion). So this is a roast for extreme novices and also handy for people on limited budgets.
Any vegetables which roast well would work here. Just make sure you cut them to a suitable size so they cook in the time. The longer a vegetable takes to cook, the smaller you cut it. If you cut it too small, it might collapse a bit (like my butternut squash did here) but it's still tasty.
Don't add any oil to the vegetables, there is some fat which cooks out of the chicken which makes them taste yummy.
Chicken Tray Bake - serves 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 young children
Ingredients
4 Decent size chicken thighs (skin and bone in)
120g, 4.5oz Butternut squash
1/4 Red onion, sliced into strips
1/2 Courgette (zucchini) cut into thick sticks
A few sprigs of thyme
Freshly ground pepper
Method
Peel and slice the butternut squash, cut up the other vegetables and mix with the thyme. Put the chicken thighs on top and season with pepper (add salt if cooking for adults as it will make the skin go crispier.)
If wanted you could cover and put in the fridge until ready to cook. When ready, roast at 180oC, 350F, gas mark 4 for 45 mins.
Cut the chicken off the bone for younger kids and serve alongside some green vegetables if liked. Add a small pinch of salt if liked for adult portions if cooking for the whole family.
This would be a cracking recipe for baby led weaners, imagine giving soft roasted vegetable sticks and strips of the roasted chicken? It would work a treat!
Make it Thrifty:
Chicken thighs are pretty thrifty as it is but save money further by using the oven heat to cook something else at the same time. Also if you're a fan of nibbling on drumsticks, they are often cheaper still and would work here.
Love this idea!! #weekendbloghop x
ReplyDeleteIt's the roast for people who don't like cooking roasts!
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