I had friends staying with me this weekend and they were amazed with what was coming out of the kitchen! People just assume that healthy good is going to bland and tasteless. However, when you chose to flavour your food with fresh herbs and spices, natural sweeteners and fruits etc rather than salt and sugar, people start changing their mind. At the end of a well flavoured healthy meal, you feel satisfied but not overly full - unless you go back for seconds or thirds!!

I cooked this on Friday night and it went down a treat. I bought a small chicken (€4.99) from Bresnan's as I consider it one of the best butchers in the city and asked them to joint the chicken into 8 pieces for me. Remember your butcher will always do any preparation etc regarding meat so I always ask....

Chicken and Pepper Bake

1 small chicken - joined into 8 pieces
2 onions - chopped
2 leeks - chopped
3 red peppers - halved and cut into 1 inch strips
50 grams of sun-blushed tomatoes (drained well and roughly chopped)
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
220 ml of brown rice
400 ml of chicken stock (check out my chicken stock recipe)
100ml white wine (If you have it)
1 teaspoon paprika
50 grams olives
1/2 orange - peeled and segmented
A handful of chives - finely chopped
A handful of parsley - finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Firstly heat the oil in the large casserole dish or big saucepan and add chicken. Seal chicken pieces by letting them go white on all sides and remove into a bowl.
Add onions and a little water, cover, and allow onions to sweat for 5 mins. Then add leeks, cover, and sweat for another 5 mins (if it starts getting dry, add a little more water)
Add the garlic, tomatoes, peppers, cover and cook for another few minutes.
Add the brown rice, the paprika, the chicken stock and the wine and bring to a boil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Add the sealed chicken pieces so that they rest on top of the mixture, and sprinkle the oranges, olives and freshly chopped herbs. Cover well.

Either place in an oven for 1 hour at 180 oc or turn heat right down on the hob and let gently simmer for an hour.
A great one pot meal

Wheat free, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free

If you are interested in receiving a one on one personal nutrition consultation, contact me on lucy@spogsracing.com.