Mixy mixy mixy!

I’ve now used up all my annual leave until May, I am not sure how I’m going to cope but I will just have to make it work. On my last day of annual leave, I didn’t feel like doing anything much, but I thought I might use my free time to cook up batches of food to last the rest of the week, or at least for the next few days. I had seen the video below on Instagram for this chicken and lentil traybake and thought it looked like a pretty simple and easy recipe to make.

As usual, I didn’t have quite the recommended ingredients, so I substituted Ras El Hanout with Baharat – as you can see from my extensive research (see my previous post from September 2020)

I figured it would probably work just as well. I didn’t have chicken breasts but I did have one chicken thigh and two chicken drumsticks that had been lounging around in the freezer for months. That really did need using up. I’m not sure if garlic powder is the same as garlic granules, but that’s what I used. And of course I didn’t have a can (or two) of Beluga lentils in the cupboards, but I did have one can of green lentils from Tesco which seemed to be perfectly adequate for now. It does seem that Beluga lentils worth exploring as they are high in dietary fibre, folate and antioxidants – so I might look out with interest for them, next time I’m out food shopping. The whole thing didn’t take long make which was great and was perfect to eat it for my planned early dinner.

Ingredients
Serves 4
2 x 400g tins beluga lentils, drained (I used one can of green lentils)
1 red onion, finely chopped (I used a white onion)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ras el hanout (I used baharat)
650g pack chicken breasts (I had 2 chicken drumsticks and 1 chicken thigh)
The juice of a lemon
2 tsp garlic powder (I used garlic granules)
2 tsp dried oregano
200ml chicken stock – use ½ a cube (I used a whole cube – didn’t want to waste it!)
2 tbsp tomato puree
A handful of coriander leaves
Salt and pepper

Instructions
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 fan. Chuck the lentils, red onion, ras el hanout, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper into a roasting dish. Mix well.
2. Put the chicken into a mixing bowl and add the lemon, garlic powder, dried oregano and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and place on top of the lentils.
3. Whisk the stock together with the tomato puree and pout around the side of the dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and juicy. Remember that different sized chicken breasts will cook at different times. If one is done sooner than the rest, take it out of the oven and keep it warm whilst you finish the others. Scatter over the coriander and serve immediately
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The final result…

It did not look as pretty as the Instagram version but it was delicious. I’ll definately be making this again, as it was so easy. I am intruiged about these Beluga lentils. I bought a bag from an online organic food store and they are waiting for me…