Family favourites: all-in-one roast chicken

If your family is anything like my guys, every time I go to the kitchen to cook dinner, I am immediately requested to go back to the sitting-room to put the DVD on or clean someone's nose, change the music, find the book, help to retrieve the toy that got stuck behind the radiator etc etc. I love cooking elaborate dishes, but even more I love easy meals, when you sort of chuck everything together and don't have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. This recipe for all-in-one roast chicken is as quick and easy as possible. There are no set rules, and the ingredients vary on what veg and fruit we have. Spices and marinade ingredients could be different as well. One day it is more lemony, the other time I add a spoonful of Dijon mustard. Onion could be substituted with leeks, pears with hard cooking apples.

All-in-one roast chicken (serves 4+)
For the marinade
zest of 1 orange
2tbps olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp wild rose el hanout spice mix
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey


about 800g chicken thighs
2 pears
1 big red onion
1 medium carrot
4-5 chestnut mushrooms
salt

2 sweet peppers
1 pack of Tilda basmati rice (lime and coriander)

Quickly pan-fry the chicken pieces, about 5 minutes on each side.
Mix the marinade from all the ingredients: olive oil, grated zest, honey, crushed garlic, wild rose el hanout and lemon juice.
Cut the carrots in chunks, slice an onion and pears into 6 pieces. Put the veg/fruit and chicken in a ceramic tray or deep Pyrex and pour in the marinade. Using hands, rub the marinade into the meat and veg. Set aside for about 20 minutes.
Place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C and roast the chicken & veg for about 25 minutes. Check the chicken at least once, turning the pieces over.

Add the chopped mushrooms for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Serve with the roast sweet peppers stuffed with Tilda basmati rice. To cook the peppers, slice them in two, remove the seeds and place into the roast tins or ceramic dishes, drizzle with the olive oil and add some salt if wanted. Roast for 15 mins at 180C. Take the tray out, spoon the rice inside the pepper, and add a bit of water or a squeeze of orange juice. Roast for another 15 minutes.

BritMums has teamed up with Tilda to promote its initiative with the WFP in donating 300,000 meals to mothers in Bangladesh, to give their unborn children the best start in life. Low birth weight can seriously affect babies’ physical and cognitive development, so it’s essential they receive vital nutrition from the start.

For every specially marked pack sold of Tilda Pure Basmati Rice (1kg), Tilda will provide one nutritious meal to a new or expectant mum. In addition, Tilda will also be launching a Mums Helping Mums Cookbook app, available to download from the Tilda website from 1st March.

This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in need in support of the World Food Programme’s Mothers Helping Mothers initiative in Bangladesh