CHICKEN WITH GRAPES, ORANGE AND ESHALLOTS
As a lover of cooler weather, I do enjoy the start of autumn when there is hint of the change in the seasons to come. Another bonus is the proliferation of amazing late summer and early autumn produce - lovely fruit and veg, ready to be made into delicious sweet and savoury dishes.
This dish uses beautiful autumnal green and black grapes, sweet oranges, potato and beautiful free range chicken. With the addition of eshallots and pomegranate molasses, here’s a one pan dish that goes straight from oven to table.
1 small whole free range chicken, jointed or 6 chicken thigh fillets on the bone
4 eshallots, peeled and quartered
1 large washed potato, skin on, cut into eighths
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
Sea salt and black pepper
1 orange, cut into thin slices
250g mixture of green and black grapes, the ratio is up to you
A few sprigs of rosemary
A few sprigs of thyme
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Take a large cast iron pan or baking dish. Place the chicken, eshallots and potato slices into the pan. Pour over the olive oil.
Spoon the pomegranate molasses over the chicken and veggies. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and black pepper.
Arrange the orange slices on top and scatter 3/4 grapes into the pan.
Place the pan or baking dish into the oven. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until the chicken is a deep burnished brown and cooked through.
Remove from the oven, scatter the remaining grapes over and the sprigs of rosemary and thyme.
Serve with rice or couscous and a green salad. A lovely lunch or simple supper dish.