Caitríona Redmond: Save time in the kitchen with my roasted vegetable pasta recipe

Name: Paprika chicken with vegetables
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 110 min
Ingredients: 1 medium chicken; 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks; 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks; 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks; 2 medium onions, peeled and cut into chunks; 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 large peppers, cut into chunks; 7/8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks; For the seasoning:; 1 tbsp paprika; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp white pepper; 1 tsp garlic powder; 3 tbsp olive oil (yes I know this sounds a lot but it has to go a long way!)

Being clever with cooking appliances pays off

Caitríona Redmond: Save time in the kitchen with my roasted vegetable pasta recipe — This week’s recipes are all about saving you time in the kitchen and maximising the cooking space, keeping energy costs down.

Thu, 09 Feb, 2023 - 17:50

Caitriona Redmond

Consumer Watch

Being clever in the kitchen means knowing when to use an appliance and how to make the most of the time it is on.

Last Monday being a bank holiday, my husband fancied some sausage sambos for a more leisurely breakfast. As he leaves so early on weekdays he normally grabs whatever granola bar or cereal bar I have made for him and quickly assembles a cup of coffee. The weekends can be enjoyed at his leisure a little more.

Equally because it was a bank holiday I did not fancy cooking, choosing instead to read a book in relative peace. Being motivated by a hot breakfast he decided to get into the kitchen, solo. It’s generally my domain with the space doubling up as both the heart of family meals and also my workspace. There is simply no need for him to cook, although he can cook.

Energy prices being as they are, when I do use my oven I want to be sure that I use every single bit of space and warmth to cook. He turned on the grill, of all appliances! I could practically feel all the lost heat from the open grill door as I sat in the living room. Lost heat is lost energy, and ultimately lost money.

On my suggestion he turned the grill off and used the air fryer instead. This used up about half the energy of the grill and freed up his time because he didn’t have to hover in front of the open grill, tea towel in one hand and fork in the other.

Every time I put a meal into my oven I hear my grandmother admonishing me to make the most of the cooking space. A few years ago I added a third rack to my (fan) oven which really makes a huge difference to what I can fit inside it to cook. Also, even with a fan oven you can still cook items on the bottom of the oven (yes seriously). Consider the bottom of the oven as a very warm spot which doesn’t necessarily have a reliable temperature so instead of cooking technical items like cake in the bottom of the oven, it’s ideal for slow roasting or comforting sweet dishes like crumbles.

Think about it: Once you put on your oven that wasted space is wasted energy. With a little bit of organisation you can maximise what you cook without increasing bills.

Food News

It looks like there is an increase in the cost of pasta on the way. Dunnes Stores led the way and I expect the other supermarkets to follow suit.

If you used a clubcard this week you’d save a full €1 on the cost of our shopping basket in Tesco thanks to discounts that are only available for members of their discount club.

This week’s recipes are all about saving you time in the kitchen and maximising the cooking space, keeping energy costs down. By preparing double the vegetables you will have a batch of ingredients already cooked to use a second day in a completely different meal. I use a lot of seasonal root vegetables because they are Irish and good value. There’s also a tray of softer vegetables (yes I know a tomato is a fruit) because roasting soft or squishy produce uses up what’s past it’s best.

I’m finding that the quality of produce I buy in the supermarket is just not good enough to last me more than 2 days at the moment. It’s incredibly frustrating to buy peppers on a Friday and have them borderline unusable on a Sunday isn’t it? I’m not on my own either, I polled my instagram followers this week and at the time of writing, 66% of them were finding fresh fruits and vegetables were very poor quality and not lasting for them either. There are many reasons why this is happening but at least if you know how to use up products that are poor quality there’s less chance of having to throw them into the compost bin and consequently lose money.

Paprika chicken with vegetables

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond

This recipe is all about saving you time in the kitchen and maximising the cooking space, keeping energy costs down

Servings

Preparation Time

20 mins

Cooking Time

1 hours 30 mins

Total Time

1 hours 50 mins

Course

Main

Ingredients

1 medium chicken
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into chunks
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 large peppers, cut into chunks
7/8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
For the seasoning:
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp olive oil (yes I know this sounds a lot but it has to go a long way!)

Method

Preheat your (fan) oven to 170°C. Combine the seasoning ingredients in a large bowl and set to one side. Line 3 baking trays with non stick baking paper.
Take Tray 1: Put the chicken on the tray (do not wash the chicken). Take 1 teaspoon of the seasoning mixture and rub it onto the skin of the chicken. Put Tray 1 in the oven immediately.
Take Tray 2: Put the root vegetables on this tray; butternut squash, carrots, and parsnips. Take 1 tablespoon of the seasoning mixture and pour it over chunks of vegetables. Mix the vegetables well so they are coated in the seasoning.
Take Tray 3: Put the soft items on this tray; tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Repeat the steps with the seasoning mixture.
The Large Bowl: There should be a small amount of seasoning left in the large bowl. Take the potatoes and toss them in this mixture. If you don’t want roast potatoes with your dinner, just make mashed potatoes as normal and skip this step.
After Tray 1 has been in the oven for 30 minutes, open the oven and carefully spoon the coated potatoes into the baking tray beside the chicken. Put Tray 2 in the oven.
Let the trays cook in the oven for another 30 minutes then now add the third tray to the oven.
Remove the chicken and roasted vegetables from the oven and serve your roast paprika chicken but reserve half of Tray 2 & Tray 3 for tomorrow. And don’t forget to pick any leftover chicken from the bones for the following day as well.

Roasted vegetable pasta