Mediterranean Chicken Bake

If you really want your kids to eat their vegetables, give them something worth eating.

What I love most about Mediterranean cuisine is the way they make their vegetables shine. There's no bland boiled spinach or soggy steamed carrots. They really know how to create an awesome medley of tasty veggies that

looks and tastes delicious. 

The colour alone is enough to excite me, and it certainly made an impression on Mr.4 tonight as he wolfed them down before I'd even finished dishing up my own meal.

This recipe serves four with one whole fillet per person (the little ones have half each).

Mediterranean Chicken Bake

Serves: 4

Time: 1 hour (15 minutes actual prep)

---Ingredients---

4 Chicken thigh fillets

1 Tbs shaved parmesan cheese

Sage

Salt

Olive oil

Rosemary

Fresh basil leaves

1 red capsicum (red bell pepper)

1 small zucchini

1 large red onion

4 cloves of garlic

10-12 olives

3 large cup mushrooms

---Method---

•Preheat oven to 180°C

•Trim excess fat from chicken fillets and lay each one flat, skin side down. Give each fillet a light sprinkling of salt, sage and shaved Parmesan before folding each back together.

•Place folded fillets in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil (about 2 teaspoons). Cover and bake for 30 minutes.

•Cut capsicum into large chunks, onion into wedges and thickly slice mushrooms and zucchini. Leave garlic cloves and olives whole.

•Spread vegetables in with the chicken, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, about ¼ teaspoon of sage, about ½ teaspoon rosemary and some fresh basil leaves.

Finish with another drizzle of olive oil and bake, uncovered, for a further 25 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through).

This dish was inspired by Daisy's and Pie's Italian Chicken Traybake