Mediterranean Braised Chicken
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
3 serves per portion
Recipe courtesy of the Country Kitchens team
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
- 4-5 medium red potatoes, chopped into quarters
- 250g cherry or cocktail tomatoes
- 4 chicken thighs or drumsticks, bone in, skin on
- 375ml chicken stock- salt reduced
- 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, drained (optional)
- 2 lemons, juiced to achieve ½ cup juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Few sprigs of fresh oregano to garnish
- Ground black pepper to taste
Method:
- COMBINE half the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, honey, oregano, paprika and pepper to make a marinade. Mix well, add the chicken and coat well. Marinate the chicken overnight. (If time is limited the chicken can be cooked without marinating.)
- PREHEAT oven to 180°C fan-forced.
- HEAT remaining olive oil in a large oven proof pan or casserole dish over medium heat.
- ADD the chicken pieces and cook until browned. Transfer chicken to a plate.
- ADD onion to pan or casserole dish and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
- RETURN chicken to the pan or dish, add potatoes, stock and season.
- BRING to the boil and transfer the dish to oven.
- BAKE uncovered for 30 minutes.
- REMOVE from oven, add tomatoes and olives.
- RETURN to oven and bake for a further 30 minutes until chicken is browned, cooked through and potatoes are browned.
- REMOVE from oven, garnish with fresh oregano and serve with crusty bread.
What's Great About It:
This recipe is so easy, versatile and retains wonderful Mediterranean flavours with oregano, garlic and lemon. It is an excellent recipe to batch cook or expand to feed a crowd. It works well with a variety of vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potato, corn cobs and zucchini.