You may know by now that I am a huge fan of the Mediterranean Diet. It’s known as the world’s healthiest diet, but the awesomeness doesn’t stop there! It’s easy to follow without too much complication and it’s just so adaptable, flexible… did I mention includes red wine… and delicious!
I don’t often have moments of brilliance where I develop my own recipes, my brain expends most of those moments during days of gainful employment. What I do though, is scour the interwebs for wonderful recipes that I can easily tweak, cook and fit into our weekly meal plan.
Of course all this helps to give you some inspiration when you’re wondering what to cook for your family this week!
Inspiration
One of my all time favourite food bloggers is The Mediterranean Dish. I find so much inspiration on this blog and have probably pinned every single one of her pins.
So in my clumsy way I have adapted one of her recipes and it is absolutely a plate (or three) full of lemony deliciousness that we couldn’t get enough of! My five year old has a new saying when he loves a dish I have made, which is: “I DARE you to make this again tomorrow!”. This time, I was “double dogs dared” to make it again, which I assume is something very close to life or death in terms of dare compliance.
One of the very best things about this dish is of course, that it’s all cooked in one roasting pan. You add all your ingredients, pop it in the oven and go along your merry way until it’s ready! These are the best kinds of dinners!
All of a sudden, I’m hungry… let’s get to the recipe!
Mediterranean Chicken & Potato Bake
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 pieces chicken
- ground coarse salt
- 6 medium potatoes cut into finger width slices
- 1 brown onion halved then sliced
- ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus 1/2 cup for later
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 4-6 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tbsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 lemon sliced
- pitted kalamata olives
- fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
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Pat chicken dry and season generously with salt (lift the skins and apply salt underneath as well). Leave at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pat dry again if needed.
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Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
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Place the potato wedges and onions on large roasting pan. Season with salt and black pepper.
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In a large frying pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken skin-side down to brown (about 5 to 7 minutes,) then turn over and brown the other side for another 3 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to the prepared roasting pan, placing the pieces between the potato wedges, not on top.
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In a small jug, whisk together 1/2 cup olive oil with lemon juice, crushed garlic, rosemary, and nutmeg. Pour liquid all over the chicken and potatoes, lifting the chicken pieces to allow the liquid to flow underneath. Then pour the chicken stock into the pan as well.
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Place lemon slices on top and bake uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until chicken and potatoes are tender. Give the potatoes an occasional stir.
Recipe Notes
You can use chicken pieces with the skin on and bone in. I didn’t have any on hand and used skinless chicken breasts instead. This shortens the cooking time slightly and cooking in the liquid ensures that they are tender and juicy.
