Orange Chicken Traybake
I’m all in favour of the traybake! Whether it’s a tray of fudge brownies or a pan of caramelised chicken pieces, with loads of veggies and herbs and spices, I’m in!
This dish, like all good savoury traybakes, is an all in one bake. Not much prep, a little bit of cooking and you have a rustic delicious dish ready to be shared at the table.
1 small whole chicken or 6 chicken thigh fillets, on the bone
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
6-8 shallots, quartered
8 new potatoes, cut in half if small, or quarters if larger
2 oranges + juice of half an orange
1 generous tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sumac
Sea salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C or 200 degrees C fan
If you’re cooking a small whole chicken, joint the chicken into its component parts. If you’re not sure how to do this, there are some great YouTube videos on the topic! Or chicken thigh fillets on the bone are pretty good too, and easier to manage.
Take a sturdy baking dish - cast iron, enamel or aluminium, big enough to contain the chicken and veggies. Pour over 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put the chicken pieces into the dish. Scatter over the garlic, shallots and new potatoes.
Pour over the the juice of the half orange, pomegranate molasses and honey. Sprinkle the whole dish with sumac, salt and black pepper. Slice the oranges into rounds. Scatter these over the other ingredients in the dish. Pour the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over everything in the dish.
Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and cook uncovered for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check after 50 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the chicken pieces, that may be sufficient cooking time.
Remove from the oven when cooked, and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving with a green salad, crusty bread or even some rice or couscous
*If the oranges are quite large, 1 1/2 oranges will be enough, just use the extra half for the juice component.
*You need to watch the cooking time as mentioned in the recipe. The chicken pieces will be of different thicknesses. So just check the dish after 50 minutes to see whether the chicken pieces are cooked, or whether you need to leave them for longer.