Mid-Week Family Traybake

Traybakes are my winter survival meal kits for mid-week eating. Ten minutes in terms of preparation and about 50 minutes in the oven means you can have a meal on the table in an hour. These, along with my slow-cooker, are much used solutions for our family meals.

This one has tender chicken thighs cooked with sweet potatoes, red onions and broccoli and is simply roasted with herbs, paprika and lemon. Do add the stock/bouillon since it ensures everything is beautifully tender (helping with tolerability of firm protein), and produces a little gravy at the bottom of the tray to serve drizzled over the one-pot offering.

CHICKEN AND SWEET POTATO MID-WEEK TRAYBAKE

Ingredients

METRIC/US

500 g/1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges

350 g/12 oz broccoli, broken into florets

about 4 garlic cloves (or more), unpeeled

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 2 tsp dried

2 tsp fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried

low-fat cooking spray or mist

6 skinless and boneless chicken thigh fillets, halved

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp smoked paprika

150 ml/2/3 cup chicken stock/bouillon

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/gas 6.
Place the potatoes, onion, broccoli and garlic on a large roasting tray and sprinkle over the fresh or dried herbs. Spritz well with low-fat cooking spray or mist. Toss well and spread out evenly over the tray then roast for 15 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and stir the vegetables to mix. Add the chicken thighs, drizzle over the lemon juice and sprinkle with the paprika. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
Pour over most of the chicken stock/bouillon and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast for a final 15-20 minutes (topping up with a little more stock/bouillon if the mixture starts to cook too dry), until the chicken is cooked and vegetables are tender.
Squeeze the garlic from their skins and mix into the mixture. Serve hot with the lemon wedges for squeezing over.

SERVES 4

WLS PORTION: 1/2

CALORIES PER PORTION: 356

PROTEIN: 33g

CARBOHYDRATE: 37.5g

FAT: 9.2g

Image courtesy of http://www.tesco.com