Recipe: Easy grilled chicken & oven roasted veggies

I hardly ever use cookbooks or recipes to prepare my meals. Only when I try to make something specific will I grab my homemade recipe book, that has everything tried and true in one spot. No, I am a ‘come-as-you-go’ type cook. I simply buy ingredients and chuck them together and hope for the best. I usually add in some ingredients that I have lying about that I need to use up. The result: nutritious meals that combine protein with veggies and that are quick & easy to whip up. This recipe is a variation of my no fuss, no frills marinated grilled chicken with oven roasted veggies.

This recipe is out of balance when it comes to the amount of veggies vs. the amount of meat. What I do is I chuck my leftovers in the freezer and buy different meat or fish and finish it later. I was able to get 4 servings out of the amount of vegetables I used here.

Serves: 2 – 4

Preparation time: 45 minutes.

What you’ll need for the marinated grilled chicken:

• 2x chicken breast
• juice of one lemon (or 1 tbls)
• honey (approx. 1 tbls)
• olive oil (or coconut oil) (approx. 2 tbls)
• thyme

What you’ll need for the oven roasted veggies:

• Veggies of your choice that work well in an oven. I went with 1 courgette, 1 package of mushrooms & 2 sweet potatoes
• pine nuts for some crunch
• seasoning of your choice. I went with cajun mix, garlic, coriander and parsley

Kitchen tools you’ll need:

• a griddle pan
• a bowl
• an oven proof dish
• an oven (I hope you did realize that 😉 )

Step 1:

Grease your oven dish and preheat oven to 200 – 220 C. It will depend on your oven and the amount of food how hot it needs to be.

Step 2:

Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. I simply go by taste. But I tend to use 2 parts oil, 1 part honey and 1 part lemon juice.

Step 3:

Place chicken in marinade and make sure the marinade coats the chicken on all sides. Place in fridge or set aside while you prepare your veggies.

Step 4:

With a peeler I peel the sweet potatoes, and I cut up all the veggies into large dice sized pieces.

Step 5:

Add seasoning. I added the garlic by placing a couple of cleaned cloves straight into the oven dish.

Step 6:

Add pine nuts & place in oven for 25 – 30 minutes. Make sure you check it after 20 minutes and give it a stir to allow your veggies to cook evenly.

Step 7:

Take your chicken and place it in a very hot griddle.

Step 8:

I pierce the chicken with a fork to help it cook evenly. Leave it long enough so you get the grilled effect.

Step 9:

Lower the heat and place a lid over the pan so your chicken will cook to perfection.

Step 10:

When your chicken looks glazed and feels done you’re ready to serve it with your veggies! In my case that’s around the same time the veggies are done.

Enjoy!

Question: I’ve been dabbling with the idea of sharing more recipes on this space. Or at least write about food on a more regular basis (maybe every week?). What do you think?