I was given Jamie Oliver’s new book ‘Everyday Superfood’ for Christmas and this is the first recipe I have made from it. The photograph in the book is very appealing for a winter weekend meal, and I am a big fan of a one-pot recipe for a Sunday lunch.
The recipe says it serves four which is accurate. I scaled it up to serve 6 (I had more chicken thighs than we needed) and we managed to have dinner for the two of us and quite a lot left which we froze in two batches. I shredded the leftover chicken off the bones first to make for more space and quicker defrosting. It was super tasty when warmed up and we served it with some couscous (stirred through with lemon juice, olive oil and some fresh herbs). An amazingly quick meal for a weeknight so definitely worth making a larger batch of the recipe the first time round!
In terms of the original recipe, I used the squash as indicated but might be tempted to try it for sweet potato next time round. I found the squash didn’t have a huge amount of flavour, but that might just be my preference. Apart from leaving the chicken skin on the thighs (way more flavour!) I stuck to the recipe closely which I always try to do the first time round.
Most annoying thing? It doesn’t say whether to put a lid on the casserole dish before putting it in the oven! I chose to put the lid on and I found the sauce to be too watery and by that time was too hungry to wait around for it to reduce. Next time I would try with the lid off, or try coating chicken and veg in flour before adding the liquid to help it to thicken. Fine if you are serving it with bread, but with the large amount of squash (or sweet potato) I didn’t feel it needed more carbs to be filling…
Overall we found the flavour of the mushrooms and olives was lovely and rich and the chicken was falling off the bone. I served it with some stir-fried kale simply seasoned with a pinch of salt and tossed in butter. Definitely worth another go with a few minor changes, and with the intention of freezing some meals for weeknights.
Original recipe can be found on Jamie’s website here.
Pinch and drizzle 