Tea Last night, I substituted large open field mushrooms for the chicken for me and cooked veggies separate. 

Nigel Slater's baked chicken

• 
• • Nigel Slater
  • The Observer, Sunday 29 July 2012

 

One-dish wonder: Nigel Slater's baked chicken with summer vegetables. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for the Observer

Sometimes I want to make a fuss over guests, ponder and plan what they might eat, consider their likes and dislikes and every whim. Other times I just want to chuck something in the oven for them, almost impromptu. This week, guests arrived with virtually no warning at all. I rubbed a load of chicken pieces, mostly brown meat, such as thighs and drumsticks, with a commercial peri-peri seasoning, and baked them on top of summer vegetables in a roasting tin. The juices from the chicken, spiced with chillies, sweet paprika and lime juice, ran down into the vegetables and mingled with the olive oil in the pan. What the presentation lacked in finesse, the dish made up for in flavour.
Of course, there were other qualities, too, like the ease of slicing a few veg and seasoning some chicken pieces, but there was also the fact that for once I used a commercial seasoning mix. Of course you can make your own from chillies, sweet pimento, smoked paprika, garlic, sugar and salt. Or you can tweak the recipe to include thyme leaves and even Worcestershire sauce or a little oregano, but the crucial ingredients are small chillies and paprika.
Chicken is far from the only ingredient you can give this treatment. A fish, such as sea bass or bream, or perhaps mackerel, can be seasoned in this way, as can a fillet or two of lamb. The same principle – of putting the spice-rubbed meat or fish on to a layer of vegetables and baking – applies just as well. I have chosen a well-known seasoning, but it could be anything more or less spicy, or even an experimental version.
Dessert was a huge summer pudding, but made with more blackcurrants than raspberries or redcurrants. It took me less than 30 minutes to make enough pudding for eight. Rather than cut the bread into thin slices and place them methodically into a bowl, I tore up some pieces of sourdough and made a nifty patchwork. The effect was strangely more satisfying than with my usual way, possibly because I had achieved a magnificent-looking pudding in no time at all.
Each of the recipes had the advantage of being easy to multiply. You simply double or treble depending on how many are coming. Of course, if you want to do it the fussy way then don't let me stop you. I often take that route myself.

Baked chicken with summer vegetables

You could add a few tomatoes to this mixture if you wish. You would get quite a bit more juice in the pan, but that could be a good thing. Cut them in half. I am not sure that they need any accompaniment, but couscous would be my first choice. Failing that, some steamed basmati rice.
Serves 5
courgette 1, large
aubergine 1, medium
red onion 1
onions 2
pepper red or yellow
olive oil 5 tbsp
peri-peri seasoning 4 tbsp
lime juice 2 limes
chicken pieces thighs, drumsticks, etc, 10

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Wipe and thickly slice the courgette and aubergine and put the pieces in a bowl. Peel and thinly slice all the onions and add them to the aubergine. Halve the pepper, remove and discard the seeds and core and cut into thick strips. Add these to the aubergines, pour over 3 tbsp of the oil, season with salt and black pepper and tip into a roasting tin.
Mix the seasoning with the lime juice and remaining olive oil. Rub the chicken pieces all over with the spice mix. Lay them on top of the vegetables, then trickle any of the remaining olive oil over the chicken and veg and place in the preheated oven and roast until the chicken is golden and its juices run clear, about 45-50 minutes.
Serve a couple of the chicken pieces per person, together with the roasted summer vegetables.