Harissa Chicken tray bake

  • Ali

We love this really simple dish, that tastes amazing and feels like you’ve spent a lot of time and care in the kitchen when the truth is it’s a simple one pot dish! Do marinade the chicken overnight to get the true full-on flavour.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 x 180g skinless chicken breasts

2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced

1 courgette, sliced into 1cm discs

1 red onion, cut into wedges

4 whole garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

16 cherry tomatoes

500g cooked Puy lentils

1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the marinade

2 tablespoons harissa paste

1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Juice and zest of ½ lemon

 

Directions

  • First make the marinade, place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well
  • Add the chicken breasts and rub the marinade into them thoroughly all over. You may want to cut your chicken breast into peics if they are large
  • Cover and leave in the fridge overnight, ideally, but at least 2 hours (the overnight marinating process tenderises the chicken, which means it should be juicy (not dry) when cooked
  • Pre-heat the oven to 170 fan, Gas Mark 5
  • Place the peppers, courgette, red onion and whole garlic cloves into a roasting tray/pan, drizzle with the olive oil and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Add the chicken and its marinade to the pan, mix together well and cook in the oven for 25 minutes
  • Add the lentils, stir to combine then add the cherry tomatoes
  • Return to the oven for a further 7/8 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, the lentils hot and the vegetables tender

 

Notes

  • We find organic chicken is more tender than non-organic (as well as animal welfare aspects)
  • Adjust cooking times if the chicken breasts are smaller/larger than those in the recipe