Roast chicken isn’t just for the weekend. This one-tray, vibrant and veg-heavy roast – using chicken portions to make the cooking quicker is a perfect weeknight treat.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
You’ll need:
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Pared rind and juice of 1 lemon
- 3 large sprigs of thyme
- 4 chicken portions
- 400g Chantenay carrots, scrubbed (and halved, if large)
- 2 medium parsnips, scrubbed or peeled, topped, tailed and cut into wedges
- 2 medium turnips peeled and cut into wedges
- 2 medium raw beetroot peeled and cut into wedges
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
What to do:
First marinate the chicken. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the rind and juice of the lemon, the leaves of a sprig of thyme and some black pepper. Add the chicken pieces and rub with the marinade. Cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for an hour.
An hour or so before you want to eat, preheat the oven to 200˚C/Gas Mark 6.
In a bowl, toss the prepared Chantenay, parsnips, turnips and beetroot with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the brown sugar, a couple of sprigs of thyme and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the vegetables to a large roasting tin (large enough to hold the vegetables comfortably in a single layer).
Place the vegetables in the preheated oven to roast for one hour, turning once or twice during cooking. Put the marinated chicken into a separate roasting tin, season with salt and add to the oven for the last 40 minutes of the cooking time. The vegetables are ready when cooked through and starting to blacken around the edges; the chicken is cooked when the skin is golden brown and the juices run clear when pierced with a knife.
Serve the chicken on top of a bed of vegetables.