One Tray Roast

​This is my absolute favourite dish when I'm tired and just want to sit and watch Netflix. It particularly thrives in lazy kitchens because zero effort is required; roughly chopping three vegetables is about as taxing as it gets.
 
You simply whack everything into a baking tray, toss in coconut oil and spices and 50 minutes later you are tucking into a delicious and nutritious healthy meal.
 
Serves 4-6
*Vegetarian/vegan options available 
 
What you’ll need:
 

• 8 bone-in chicken pieces (I used 4 legs and 4 thighs, bone in, skin on)
• 1 large red onion, roughly chopped
• About 12 sprigs of thyme (a small handful)
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced into wedges (skins removed if non-organic)
• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed, skin on
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 4 tbsp. coconut oil
• 2 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
• 1 bag of kale
• 5 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. sea salt

 
*To make this vegetarian or vegan omit the chicken and reduce the paprika and cumin seeds to 1.5 tbsp. of each.

​How to make one tray roast

• Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius
• In a large roasting tin mix together the onion, potato, paprika, cumin seeds, chickpeas, tomatoes, garlic, salt, thyme, coconut oil and chicken pieces
• Now place the chicken pieces so they are sitting on top
• Roast in the oven for 40 minutes (meanwhile relax, watch TV or prepare breakfast for the morning)
• Remove from the oven
• Add the kale (roughly stir it in but don’t worry if you find the kale sits mainly on top of everything. The tray will be quite full)
• Add the 5 tbsp. water and return to the oven for 10 minutes
• Remove from oven and give it a stir. Then portion out the chicken and vegetables and enjoy

 
That’s it. Any leftovers make an amazing dining-al-desko lunch at the office the next day. No need to submit to bland petrol station ham sangers or high street pharmacy 'meal deals' ever again :)
 
Recipe adapted from an Udo's Choice recipe  
 
So why the Excitement?
Benefits of Kale

• Kale is a member of the cruciferous family, known for maintaining healthy hormone metabolism.
• Kale is an excellent source of folate (folic acid), often associated with fertility and making babies.
• Folate plays a large role in our mental and emotional state. It works with B6 and B12 to keep mood in balance thanks to its ability to metabolise homocysteine – think B for Brain.
• What else? Kale has a team of bone-building nutrients such as calcium, vitamin K and sulphur, all well-known allies against degenerative bone/osteo type conditions

 
Benefits of Red Onion

• Quercetin, a phytonutrient is packed into red onions. It’s really useful during Sneezy Season thanks to it’s immune balancing and anti-inflammatory powers. 
• Onions also offer fabulous amounts of inulin, a pre-biotic (non-digestible carbohydrate) which fuels the probiotics in our internal eco system, maintaining the health of our digestive system.

 
Read about the benefits of coconut oil in this blog post