FLOWER POT KITCHEN: TRAY BAKED CHICKEN PARMESAN AND CHORIZO

7 Feb 2018

TRAY BAKED CHICKEN PARMESAN AND CHORIZO

Tray Baked Dinners

Where have I been, I kinda know I do cook like this but I did not realise how much more I should cook like this, I am loving this new found freedom of one pan cooking, as a old fashioned cook I am all about layering of flavours and tray baking still gives all those layers of flavours with out the manual workout at the stove. Dinner done in 10 minutes!

Prep time 5-10 minutes / Cooking time 25 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4)

4 chicken breasts bashed even all over

100g chorizo sliced

1 head broccoli florets

1 courgette sliced

1 red pepper sliced

200g Brussels sprouts cut in to 3 pieces

200g spinach

1 bulb of garlic peeled

200g cherry tomatoes on the vine

50 ml olive oil

1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt

1/2 fresh ground black pepper

50-100g grated Parmesan

Pre heat the oven 200 C / 390 F, toss the chicken in a tbsp of olive oil, season with some of the salt and pepper, in the tray back add the rest of the ingredients and toss through the remaining olive oil, salt and pepper, place the chicken breasts on top and arrange some of the garlic cloves and chorizo sliced on top of the chicken. This will not only add a nutty baked flavour to the chicken, but the chorizos gorgeous paprika oils will baste the rest of the dish while it cooks.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until the chicken is just cooked all the way through, sprinkle over the grated Parmesan and serve the tray bake straight to the table family style.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.