Recipe: Roast Chicken and Vegetables

I have tried a few roast vegetable recipes as I have tried to find healthier ways of cooking and also get more vegetables into my families diet.  I haven't been crazy about most of them finding the vegetables either slightly tasteless for a palate used to spices and intense flavours or the textures not quite right (either too dry or too mushy).

This recipe is from my lovely sister-in-law and having tied it and loved it, I have made it quite a few times.  I love that there is lots of flavour, lots of colour and most importantly a wide range of vegetables that you can include.

Ingredients:
1kg chicken breast cut into cubes
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
salt to taste
approx 1 kg vegetables cut into large cubes of a similar size.  I used:
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
half of a butternut squash, peeled and cubed
Handful broccoli florest
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into chunky discs
1 red and 1 green bell pepper, cut into rough rectangles
 1 courgette (zuchinni), peeled and cut into chunks

(Other vegetables you can use include aubergine, pumpkin, mushrooms, sweet potato,  onion)

Seasoning for chicken:
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs
1 teaspoon chilli flakes (adjust to preference)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds (zeera)
1 crushed vegetable oxo cube
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt to taste

Method:
Wash and drain your chicken and prepare the vegetables that you would like to use.

Mix all of the spices, garlic paste and olive oil for the seasoning.  Add the chicken and give it a good mix, ensuring the chicken cubes are as coated as possible.

Lay your vegetables out in a baking tray.

Season vegetables with mixed herbs and salt.

Add the seasoned chicken over the vegetables.  Cover with foil and baked for an hour on the middle shelf.

I like to take the foil off for the last 10 minutes or so of baking to give the chicken a deeper colour.




















Tasty and nutritious, the other thing I like about this is that it takes about 10-15 minutes of preparation time and then I can go and do something else for an hour and not have to stand over it.