Chicken and vegetable tray bake

This simple one-tray bake is a quick and easy family meal. It takes about 50 minutes to prepare and cook.
And you only use one tray for the cooking, so it also saves on the washing-up.

The juices of the ingredients combine to make to make a tasty sauce that you can spoon over the dish. And you can easily substitute your favourite vegetables or whatever veges are in the fridge into this dish too. For example, throw in some baby carrots, olives, capsicum, chunks of sweet potato or parsnip.

The trick to this dish is to place the ingredients that take longest to cook - such as the chicken and potatoes -  in first, so they have the longest cooking time. And then add the ingredients that take less time as you go along - such as the mushrooms and tomatoes. That way, all your ingredients will be perfectly cooked and ready to serve at the end of the cooking time.

What you'll need

Serves 6 (allowing 2 pieces of chicken per serve)

6 chicken legs
6 chicken thigh pieces, bone in, skin on
18 small potatoes, skin on
1 punnet cherry tomatoes (red or yellow)
100g button mushrooms
10 French eschallots, peeled, but with root part intact
8 cloves garlic, unpeeled
Fresh thyme and basil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry white wine

Salt and pepper

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

In a baking tray place the chicken pieces, garlic cloves and potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper and mix well to coat. Pour over the white wine.

Place into the oven. Bake for approximately 25 minutes until slightly browned. 

In a bowl, add the eschallots and mushrooms. Pour over a little oil and season well. Add to the baking tray and mix into the other ingredients with a spoon. Bake for another 15 minutes. With about 5 minutes left of cooking add the cherry tomatoes to the dish. 

Note: The cherry tomatoes will not cook, but just warm through, which is how I prefer them. If you'd like them cooked, add them when you add the mushrooms.

Once all ingredients are soft and cooked, remove from the oven. This should take only 45 minutes. The chicken and potatoes should be brown, and the mushrooms and eschallots should be soft and juicy.

Pour over the red wine vinegar and then, using a large spoon, mix carefully to combine the cooking juices and the vinegar. 

Spoon into a serving dish, sprinkle over the fresh herbs and serve to the table.

Serve with some fresh, crunchy bread to soak up any yummy juices from the bottom of the dish.