Mediterranean Chicken Bake
If you love Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cuisines as much I do, then you’re going to love this chicken recipe. It’s really very simple to make, tray bakes are the absolute best when you’re short of time but don’t want to order take out. This dish especially for me, has become a “go to” for my family, my mother in law has early onset dementia, she currently still lives at home with her husband (my father in law) and their middle son who is autistic. Once a week I prepare food for the family, this dish is by far their favourite, the sweetness from the red capsicum and baby tomatoes, the juicy chicken thigh fillet which I source on the bone and the saltiness from the olives and fetta cheese adds a delicious finish to this dish.I have one request if you are planning to make this dish – make sure you have a beautiful crusty loaf of sourdough bread to dip into the yummy sauce that surrounds this dish when it’s being served! That’s a non-negotiable in our Greek home.
Mediterranean Chicken bake
Equipment
- 1 baking tray of your choice I use a "tapsi", a round shallow aluminium tray. Ensure there is enough room to spread out all of the ingredients in a single layer. A large roasting dish is ideal.
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken thigh fillets, skin on, bone in Use skinless if you prefer
- 1 medium red capsicum roughly chopped into 2cm pieces
- 1 medium yellow capsicum roughly chopped into 2cm pieces
- 1 large Spanish onion diced into 2cm pieces
- 1 medium eggplant diced into 2cm pieces
- 2 punnets of baby Roma tomatoes leave them whole
- 1/2 cup evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 level tbls smoky paprika
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed/chopped fine
- 1/2 cup freshly chopped continental parsley
- 1/4 cup freshly chopped dill fronds
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tbs sea salt/kosher salt
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted/ un pitted your choice *will be added prior to serving
- 130 gms good Greek feta cheese, roughly broken *will be added prior to serving
- Extra freshly chopped parsley and dill for sprinkling before serving
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 180'C, place oven rack in the middle.
- Using the baking dish of choice, mix all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the olives and feta. Combine well ensuring the chicken is skin side up (if using) and pressed down into the vegetable / olive oil/ vinegar and water mixture.
- Bake for 35 mins, the last 5 mins I use my grill option to brown and make the skin crispy. If you don't have this option, increase the oven to 220'C and bake for a further 5-10 mins depending on desired colour.
- Just before serving, add the olives, crumbled feta and herbs, serve with crusty bread to dip into the juicy sauce.
Notes
- A mixture of chicken pieces such as thighs and drumsticks can be used, ensure they are of similar thickness to ensure even cooking.
- I don’t recommend chicken fillets for this dish BUT you can try it if you prefer it.
- Other spices can be added such as pepper, chilli etc..it’s a versatile dish that can be adjusted to each persons palate.