One pot meals: Greek "chicken"
Posted by kathryn in Vegan and Main courses
This is one of my favourite, favourite one-pot meals. I’ve been making this vegetable and bean stew for years. I’ve made it for Richard and I, for dinner parties and it never fails to please. In some magic way it manages to be both warming and light, at the same time.
It’s exactly the kind of food I’m loving at the moment.
A perfect example of my one-pot cooking strategy. While there’s a bit of vegetable prep and a few ingredients, this casserole can be in the oven in 10 minutes. And then you don’t have to think about it again for at least 40 minutes.
And it’s a very forgiving dish. I’ve left this in the oven for 2 hours, and it’s still come out tasting beautiful.
One note, despite the title it doesn’t contain chicken. This recipe has evolved over time from a magazine article featuring a recipe which actually contained chicken. I’ve tweaked and changed, adding beans, more vegetables, some paprika, until it’s now completely different from the original.
But I’ve retained the title as a cheeky homage to my mum. Her uncanny knack of making recipes, forgetting the key ingredient is legendary in my family. And a never-ending source of amusement to my dad and I – except it’s obviously genetic, as I’ve inherited the trait.
Greek “chicken”
I’m happy to eat this dish as is, but you could also serve with rice or crusty bread to mop up the juices. Sometimes I also sprinkle fresh olives and fetta over the top. Serves 4 – 6 depending on your appetite.
- 400g sweet potato, peeled & cut into 2cm cubes
- 2 Spanish onions, cut each into 6 wedges
- 1 green capsicum, deseeded & cut into 2cm wedges
- 2 zucchinis, half lengthways & cut into 2cm chunks
- 300g Kent pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed & roughly chopped
- 6 tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- Zest of 1/2 orange
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2×400g tin of white beans (I use lima)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Prepare the casserole: Prep the vegetables and place all the ingredients in a large casserole dish. Cover with a lid (or foil) and place in the oven. Cook for about 40 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft.
That’s it – casserole ready.
I’m making this for dinner tonight, so I’ll add some photos once it’s out the oven.
I’ve added the photos. As you’ll see from the second picture, the ingredients fill my casserole dish right up to the top. The eagle-eyed among you will also notice I’ve used spearmint this time, instead of parsley.
29 May, 2008
Comments
Hi Kathryn,
I love this type of cooking and am looking forward to reading more of your ideas.
That looks great, will give it a try next week!
Wonderful. Have bookmarked this and will be trying it out next week. :)
I’ll have to try this Kathryn, it sounds great. And plenty of different veggies in there.
I haven’t heard of a kent pumkin. Is it a fairly firm one (along the lines of butternut squash) or one of the sort that is very watery and disintegrates quickly?
OH KATHRYN where would i be without you to make beans interesting. can’t wait to try this one :)
That sounds lovely. I’ll bookmark it for when our winter comes around again.
Mel, Kristy & Wendy – thanks and let me know if you do try it.
Sophie – Kent is slightly more watery than butternut and does disintegrate, but it also has a wonderful sweetness, which I love in this dish. Here’s a little picture.
Shauna – glad to be your yummy-legume-dish source. They are such a common food in our house, I’m always happy to spread the word.
Milly – let me know if you try it out.
Yum. I love dishes like this. I got a bit obssesed with a dish similar to this last winter minus the beans plus fresh basil at the end. Its so versatile and healthy. love it! The photos turned out well to hehe
this looks delicious – I love an interesting selection of vegetables and the idea of just putting it in the oven to cook seems like a perfect low maintenance dish and I presume the leftovers would freeze well too – this is definintely on my list of meals to make
Sue – I’ve been cooking this dish for years and years, but I tend to go in phases with it. We’ll have it once a week for a while and then I’ll “forget” about it for a few months.
Johanna – these one-pot meals are really appealing to me at the moment. They create a delicious meal, with minimal hands-on cooking required. Plus having the oven on really warms the house up! I’ve never actually tried to freeze this one. I’m sure it would be fine, but it doesn’t usually hang around that long!
Made this dish tonight – most delicious – will definitely blog at some stage but I know this will be made again so might wait til I have tried it a few times (I actually cooked it quite a bit on the stovetop as I cut up the vegies because I take longer than you with the chopping)
Hi there Johanna – so glad to hear you enjoyed it. I’m pretty rough and quick with my chopping. Am sure most chefs would be horrified. But it means I have it down to 10 minutes. And it still cooks together beautifully in the oven. I’ve never cooked it, even partially, on the stovetop.
What a beautiful casserole, Kathryn. Would be making this for dinner right now if it weren’t for the pasta I’ve got cooking. Tomorrow will be perfect though and I’m already looking forward to it! The heat from the oven will be much appreciated, too, as our weather has turned around this week and it’s downright chilly.
Loved the “chicken” story. :)
What a great recipe, Kathryn! We’ve had this for dinner tonight and both loved it! Didn’t stray from your recipe and only added a little extra zucchini to make up for pumpkin which isn’t available now. It’s exactly what you said, too, warming and light. Loved loved loved the hint or orange, too, and the broth is just fantastic. This one is going into the collection of recipes I’ll definitely make again. So glad you shared this recipe with us!
Thanks Cassie, glad to hear you made it and enjoyed it. And isn’t the broth glorious! Hope it warmed your house up while it was cooking.
Hi Kathryn,
I cooked this last week – yum! There was a bit of swapping around because I didn’t quite have enough pumpkin or sweet potato (in go the parsnips), no tomatoes (replaced with a tin of crushed tomatoes), and only one tin of lima beans (in goes a tin of chickpeas). Delicious! It took me a little longer than 10min to get it in the oven, but it was well worth it in the end. Freezes and reheats beautifully, as tested at lunch time today.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe (and as a new reader, for a wonderfully informative site!).
Jen – thanks for reporting back and I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’m not sure I’ve ever added parsnips – but can imagine they would be delicious. I’m pretty snappy on the vegetable prep. It’s one of the aspects I like about this dish – no fine chopping required!
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