Oven baked chicken with pancetta
One-pot dishes are seriously convenient and all the ingredients cook and blend together to make a delicious flavour explosion. The key to this dish is the balance of sweet peppers and red onions, with salty chicken skin and pancetta. The aromatic herbs and sweet, citrusy lemon finish everything off perfectly. Serve it with some quinoa and green salad for a speedy, easy comforting dinner.
From a health perspective, this dish will keep you feeling fuller for longer, containing lots of quality protein from the chicken and quinoa, and absolutely no refined carbohydrates.
The red peppers and red onions contain cell-protective antioxidants, and the onions, along with the garlic, also deliver some sulphur which is great for liver detoxification – just make sure you cook it nice and gently and don’t allow the vegetables to burn. Why not cook up extra to take to work for lunch tomorrow, or save leftovers in the fridge for an even speedier dinner when you get home.
| Ingredients (serves 4) |
|---|
| Six chicken thighs, skin on and bone in |
| Three small stalks rosemary |
| Small handful lemon thyme |
| Six garlic cloves |
| One red onion, cut into chunks |
| One Romano pepper, sliced |
| 50g pancetta, chopped into small pieces |
| One lemon, cut into six pieces |
| Sea salt and black pepper |
| Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling |
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place the chicken thighs in a large ovenproof dish, and tuck the rosemary, garlic cloves, lemon pieces, peppers and red onion. Sprinkle over thyme, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
Then remove foil, baste the chicken and put back into the oven uncovered for a further 30 minutes or until the chicken skin is golden and crispy and the meat is cooked. Serve with quinoa and green salad leaves, spooning the chicken juices over everything, yum.
