It can be difficult to know what to cook for dinner, but this simple one-pot dish is the perfect summer dish to make during the week.
Mary Berry’s Mediterranean chicken bake is a delicious summer dish made with tender chicken, roasted potatoes, sizzling bacon, olives and an array of vegetables seasoned in paprika.
It is a foolproof recipe as it takes less than 10 minutes to cut up the ingredients and place them in a roasting tin before letting the dish bake in the oven for an hour.
Mary said: “This is a great way to feed the family as the chicken and veg are all cooked in one very large tray in the oven.
“It takes only minutes to put everything together then it sits in the oven for under an hour with no fussy finishing off to do and only one pan to wash up.”
How to make Mary Berry’s one-pot Mediterranean chicken dinner
Ingredients (serves six)
- 1kg of potatoes (cut into two-centimetre chunks)
- Six chicken thighs
- Six chicken drumsticks
- Six rashers of bacon (snip into one-centimeter pieces)
- Five preserved lemons (Cut into quarters)
- One large onion (Cut into wedges)
- Two garlic cloves (crushed)
- Three courgettes (thickly sliced)
- One and a half tablespoons of paprika
- One can of green olives (drained)
- Three tablespoons of olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Mary said: “The recipe allows one chicken thigh and one drumstick per person, but use less if you are not such big eaters. I love stuffed olives, but use plain green or black ones if you prefer.
“The preserved lemons really gives a lovely citrus tang to the dish and are well worth using but if you can’t find them use one sliced lemon instead.”
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C (200 Fan or Gas 7).
Next, prepare the ingredients. Peel and cut the potatoes into two-inch chunks, cut the onion into wedges, crush the garlic cloves, cut the lemons into quarters, thickly slice the courgettes and then snip the bacon into one-centimetre pieces.
Place the potato chunks in a large roasting tin along with two tablespoons of olive oil. Toss them around in the tin, then add the onion, garlic bacon and chicken pieces.
Make sure not to overcrowd the tin It is in a single layer and it needs to cook evenly. Use two roasting tins if you need to.
Add the lemons to the tin, season the mixture with salt and pepper and sprinkle in the paprika, then place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
While the mixture is cooking, place the courgettes in a bowl and coat with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Once the time is up add the courgette pieces to the mixture and scatter the olives on top.
Place the mixture back in the oven to bake for a further 20 minutes or until both the chicken and vegetables are golden and tender.
Take out the oven and your delicious Mediterranean-inspired dinner will now be ready to serve.
