Italian Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Tray Bake

Tray bakes. Love them. Easy and everyone is happy with the results. I was trying to think of a nice birthday meal for my husband when I remembered him ogling a recipe that I was looking at in a magazine. I had just bought the magazine in the airport as a way of entertaining myself on a flight from London to Madrid. You know, i don´t mind magazines in Spanish but it was so nice to read a cooking magazine in English again. There were some peculiarities in the magazine but that is something I will talk about another day. The eating habits of the English and the Spanish are obviously different. At any rate, I took the magazine out the other day and suggested to my husband that i make it. He enthusiatically agreed and that was that!

The recipe includes some of our favourite things including cherry tomatoes. There are different kinds and I just love them all. You know how some people can´t resist chocolate? I can. No problem. But a bowl of tomatoes like these is not safe for long!

Aren´t they beautiful?

I made the tray bake the day before my husband´s birthday and simply reheated it the next day. The result was wonderful! I made a few changes to the recipe and here it goes! This could serve 4.

2 garlic cloves, minced (Add more or less according to your tastes)

2 teaspoons of dried oregano (Adjust this according to your tastes)

1/4 cup or so of fresh basil leaves, chopped

Two thick chicken breasts, divided into thin fillets. (You will end up with 4)

400 grams of cherry tomatoes

1 small eggplant, diced

1 small  zucchini, diced

1 red onion, chopped

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped.

Salt and pepper to taste

About half a cup of Mozzarella cheese, grated

1. Heat the oven to 220. Take about a teaspoon of the minced garlic and mix it with the oregano, some basil and some salt and pepper. In you want to add a more or less of a seasoning, it is up to you!Coat the chicken breasts with the mixture and set aside.
2. In a bowl, put the rest of the garlic, oregano, basil, some salt and pepper and the cherry tomatoes. Mix well and then add all the rest of the diced veggies. Make sure that they are all well coated in the seasonings. Put into a roasting tray and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and then top with the chicken and cook for 10 minutes more.
3. Remove the tay from the oven and put the oven on its highest setting. Turn the chicken over, scatter with the cheese and put it back in the oven, cook for about 10 minutes more  or until the chicken is cooked and the cheese is golden and bubbling.

The result was delicious and something to remember when I am expecting company. It is easy but tastes like it was a super effort to make!

Hope you like it too!

Take care, xxxx Natascha