Green and gold chicken traybake
Servings: 4
Skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs are ideal for a traybake, because they’re so full of flavour and release plenty of rich schmaltziness as they bake. Here that schmaltziness gets soaked into chat potatoes (the smaller ones), which hold their shape well, and don’t need to be peeled first. You can also use larger potatoes, just cut into fork-friendly pieces before roasting. Small potatoes, big olives – the biggest olives you can find (Sicilian or Spanish are my pick). You could also roast them unpitted – just be sure to warn your eaters that there are pips! If you don’t have any chicken stock, use 2 cups of water and a chicken-style stock cube instead. Any soft herb will do here if parsley is not forthcoming. You could also swap it for a harder herb like marjoram, thyme or oregano, and bake in a few sprigs with the rest of the ingredients. You can swap the flour for GF at a 1:1 ratio, or leave it out – it’s nice for thickening up the sauce, but not a non-negotiable.
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Ingredients
- ¼ cup (45g) flour
- Pinch salt flakes
- Pinch freshly-ground black pepper
- 8 chicken thighs bone-in and skin-on, patted dry
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus extra, for garnish
- 20 g butter
- 1 medium brown onion finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup (125ml) dry white wine
- 1 lemon peeled and juiced
- 2 cups 500ml chicken stock
- ½ cup 100g green olives, pitted and halved
- 8-10 (500g) chat (small) potatoes cleaned and halved (or cut into chunks if using larger potatoes)
- 4-5 parsley sprigs leaves picked and roughly chopped, stems finely chopped (optional but excellent)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and make a cartouche by cutting a piece of baking paper into a round to fit inside your ovenproof shallow casserole dish or high-sided ovenproof pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour with salt and pepper. Dust the chicken thighs in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.
- Heat oil and butter in your casserole dish or pan over medium heat. Once the butter’s foamy and the oil’s shimmering, sear the chicken thighs, skin-side down, for about 5-6 minutes, or until the skin’s golden brown. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- In the same casserole dish or pan, add the onion and garlic, wait for the sizzle, then whack a lid on and cook on a low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until softened. Pour in the wine to deglaze, crank to a medium-high heat and reduce it by a ⅓. Add the lemon peel strips, lemon juice and half of the chicken stock, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Dump in the green olives, potatoes, chopped parsley stems, and chicken back into the pan, stirring to combine. Cover with baking paper and pop the lid on.
- Transfer the dish to the preheated oven. Cook for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and add the remaining stock. Remove the cartouche and lid. Return to the oven, and cook for a further 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the chicken thighs are cooked through and golden (the juices should run clear at their thickest point).
- As soon as it comes out of the oven, garnish with freshly-chopped parsley leaves (if using) and serve immediately, finished with a little extra olive oil and a good crack of pepper
