Midweek Meals: Five simple and delicious traybakes to make this week

Save on wash-up this week 

Five yummy traybakes for the week ahead

Creamy chicken traybake with rosemary, smoked bacon and peas

Comforting and delicious, this dish is everything you need after a long day

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 60 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 10 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil

• 1 tbsp butter 

• 6 chicken fillets 

• salt

• pepper 

• 30g Dijon mustard 

• 10 sprigs rosemary 

• 6 garlic cloves

• 250g smoked streaky bacon 

• 1.2kg waxy baby potatoes 

• 200ml chicken stock 

• 250-350ml cream 

• 1 heaped tsp cornflour 

• 100g frozen petit pois peas 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃ fan/200℃.

2. Wash the potatoes and cut into cubes. Trim the chicken. Dice the streaky bacon. Mince the garlic. Boil the kettle and make up the stock. Mix the cornflour and 2 tbsp of the cold cream together until it forms a smooth paste. Stir in the rest of the cream, dijon mustard, garlic, stock and seasoning.

3. Put the oil and butter on the baking tray. Pop in the oven and heat up for a couple of minutes. Take out and place on the chicken and bacon. It should sizzle on the hot oil and butter as it hits it. Place the potato cubes on the tray next. Pour over the sauce lay in the springs of rosemary, keeping two or three back for garnish. Feel free to use 2 oven trays to fit everything.

4. After 45 minutes, remove the traybake, sprinkle in the frozen petit pois and gently stir it a little. Return to the oven to bake.

5. Bake for fifteen more minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through fully.

6. Serve with a simple green salad.

Chicken, cider and bacon traybake

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

This is a wonderful example of how bacon can help elevate the taste of the other ingredients in a dish

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 4 organic skin-on chicken thighs

• 4 thick-cut smoked rashers

• 1 banana shallot, peeled and thinly sliced

• 450ml dry Irish cider

• 1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tbsp plain flour

• Butter

• Olive oil

• Sea salt and black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

2. Heat a little olive oil in a large oven proof pan or casserole on medium high. Add the chicken legs to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes each side so it is brown and crispy on the outside.

3. Remove the chicken to a side plate. Add the bacon to the pan along with the shallot and cook for 3-4 minutes until the bacon crisps up and the shallot softens. Stir the flour into the pan. Gradually pour in the cider, simmering for 4 minutes and then stirring in the mustard.

4. Place the chicken legs back in the pan and place in the oven, baking for 35-40 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through and the sauce, bubbling and turning golden. Serve.

Baked Plaice, Turbot or Brill with potatoes, fennel and herb butter

recipe by:Darina Allen

This very simple 'master recipe' for flat fish is delicious served with hollandaise sauce, mousseline or beurre blanc in place of the herb butter

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 22 mins

Total Time

 42 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 450g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

• 175g onions, thinly sliced

• ½ fennel bulb, very thinly sliced

• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

• 1 x 1-1.75kg fresh plaice, turbot, brill or other flat fish on the bone

• flaky sea salt

• freshly ground black pepper

• For the herb butter:

• 110g butter, softened

• 4 tsp finely chopped mixed herbs (flat-leaf parsley, chives, fennel and thyme leaves)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C.

2. Toss together the thinly sliced potatoes, onions and fennel in a bowl. Drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and spread evenly on an approx. 30 x 50cm baking tray. Bake for 5 minutes while you prepare the fish.

3. Turn the fish on its side and remove the head if you wish; I prefer to leave the fish whole. Wash the fish and clean the slit by the head very thoroughly. Using a sharp knife, cut through the skin right around the fish, just where the ‘fringe’ meets the flesh. Be careful to cut neatly and to cross the side cuts at the tail or it will be difficult to remove the skin later on.

4. Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper and lay on top of the partly cooked vegetables. Bake for 17–20 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the fish is cooked. To check if the fish is cooked, lift the flesh from the bone at the head: once it is ready, it should lift off the bone easily and be quite white with no traces of pink.

5. To make the herb butter, mix the softened butter in a little bowl with the herbs.

6. Just before you are about to serve, catch the skin down near the tail of the fish and pull it off gently (the skin will tear badly if it hasn’t been properly cut). Bring to the table and serve from the dish or lift the two fillets onto a hot plate and coat with the herb butter. Raise the tail and carefully lift the bone off the remainder of the fish. Break at the head and put aside. Carefully lift the remaining two fillets onto the plate. Coat with the herb butter and surround with the potatoes, onions and fennel, which should be deliciously charred at the edges. Serve immediately.

Fish & Chips Tray Bake

A healthier version of the chip shop classic

Servings

5

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 7 medium potatoes, peeled

• 4 tbsp sunflower oil

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 green peppers

• 1 large handful of fresh green herbs of your choice (I used chives and parsley)

• 300g white fish chunks (a packet of fish mix is absolutely fine)

• 200g fresh tomatoes to serve

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 180°C. Line a large baking tray with tin foil (to save on the washing up).

2. Chop the potatoes into small cubes about 2cm in diameter. There's no need to be too precise, this just helps the spuds to cook quicker and get crunchy on the outside. Dry off the potato cubes with a bit of kitchen paper or a clean tea towel before pouring 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil on the baking tray and tossing cubed potatoes in the oil until they are completely covered. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turn the potato cubes over halfway through cooking.

3. I use a mini-chopper for the next part, but if you have a knife you'll need to finely chop the garlic, peppers and green herbs together. If you have a mini-chopper, lash the lot into the jug and blend with the sunflower oil. Ensure that your fish has no skin left on it and then toss the fish chunks in the green paste you've made in the chopper.

4. Remove the roasted potato cubes from the oven and sprinkle the fish chunks evenly on top. Return to the oven for 15 minutes.

5. Serve with some fresh chopped tomatoes and a herb salad if you like, although tomato relish would go just as well.

Chicken Tray Bake

You will need only one large sheet pan to cook on, along with a chopping board and a sharp knife.

Servings

5

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Butternut Squash €0.89

• 1kg Fresh Irish Chicken Thighs €2.69

• 1kg Baby white potatoes €0.99

• 285g Sweetcorn tin €0.27

Method

1. Note: You will also need some cooking oil, salt, pepper and preferably some paprika or smoked paprika from your store cupboard for this recipe. You do not need to preheat the oven.

2. Peel, core, and chop the butternut squash.

3. Take a large heavy sheet pan and pour two tablespoons of vegetable oil and a generous helping of the spices (salt, pepper, paprika). Use a spoon to make sure the oil and spices are combined.

4. Place the chopped squash, chicken thighs and potatoes onto the tray and using a spoon toss in the oil so everything is coated.

5. Place the tray into the oven and switch it to 180 degrees Celsius. Roast for 75 minutes.

6. Remove the tray from the oven, strain the sweetcorn and stir into the baking juices, making sure to baste the chicken and potatoes as you do so.

7. Return to the oven for 15 minutes and serve.