Rosemary Chicken Casserole

Rosemary Chicken Casserole

Another weeknight recipe, one-pot dish with minimal prep and ready in no time. I live for these, because they are simple in prep, it doesn’t require much effort and the oven is doing all the work for you. I love me some roasted crispy chicken from the oven, however the best parts are the drippings from the chicken and you can’t always catch all of them to eat or they dry out while in the oven. My solution, use the potatoes as the ‘rack’ on which to perch the chicken legs and catch all the drippings in a sauce right under it. And yes, it was a success no complaints here.

While I was placing the chicken in the casserole dish I got very much a Game of Thrones vibe the way the chicken was going in a circle. My inner geek is showing but it reminded me of the sigil of House Targaryen if you know what I mean. Maybe I’m imagining things, but I’m taking this even further. What if we had chicken legs as our sigil with the motto ‘Food is Life’ and popular saying ‘We don’t waste food’. And not in a gluttonous way but more like using every part of food and not throwing anything out. It would be all about sustainable practices because ‘Food is Life’ not just for humans but for planet earth. I just got super excited about this.

Back to the recipe, I used rouge potatoes or simply red potatoes. They are small like baby potatoes but have red skin. The skin is very thin and is perfect to cook as is without the need for peeling it. Just give them a good wash and they are good to go. The texture is also slightly different than your conventional potato, once cooked it has this light buttery texture but will hold its shape and doesn’t fall apart. Which also make them excellent to use when making salads.

Rosemary Chicken Casserole

Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Total Time1 hr
Servings: 4
Author: Kyara

Ingredients

  • 700 gram rouge potatoes variety of red potato
  • 4 whole legs chicken with skin on
  • 100 gram cherry tomatoes
  • ½ cup passata
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ¼ tsp salt plus extra for seasoning chicken
  • ¼ tsp black pepper plus extra for seasoning chicken
  • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
  • 3 tsp capers including some brine

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180°C.
  • In a casserole dish pour the passata and mix with garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Place the bay leaves on top of the mixed sauce.
  • Wash the potatoes and cut them in half. Place them on top of the sauce.
  • Sprinkle chopped rosemary over potatoes.
  • Wash the whole chicken legs, pat them dry and cut any excess skin off.
  • Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
  • Place chicken on top of potatoes and drizzle capers on top of chicken, squeeze cherry tomatoes between chicken and place in the oven for 45 minutes.
  • Check whether chicken is done cooking after 45 minutes and potatoes are soft, if not bake for another 10 minutes until done.
  • Remove from oven and plate up with plenty of sauce!