Balsamic Chicken with Roast Vegetables

I have a bottle of balsamic vinegar that has been sitting around my pantry for a while. When I saw this recipe on this Balsamic Chicken recipe on MasterChef, my first thought was that it would help me finish up my balsamic vinegar!

 

This recipe was delicious and easy to make. The chicken and vegetables were all coated with the tangy balsamic vinegar marinade which made it very appetising. The sauce was great on the mashed potatoes, but equally good over hot, steaming rice. I loved how tender and smooth the chicken was.

This is a great recipe for when you do not have hours to spare standing in the kitchen. All you need to do is to prepare the marinade and chop the vegetables and the oven will do the rest of the work. I’ll certainly be making it regularly from now and it looks like my bottle of balsamic vinegar would not be sitting around for much longer.

Balsamic Chicken with Roast Vegetables (2 servings)
Adapted from recipe by Alysha, MasterChef Contestant

Ingredients 

Chicken

• 2 chicken marylands
• ½ each red, yellow and green capsicum
• 1 medium red onion, cut into thin wedges
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 250 g cherry tomatoes

Marinade

• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons brown sugar

Champs Mash

• 400g desiree potatoes, peeled and chopped
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 30 g butter, chopped
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic

Balsamic Sauce (served on the side)

• Reserved marinade
• 6 tablespoons pan juices

Method

Chicken

1. To prepare marinade, whisk vinegar, oil and brown sugar in a bowl until sugar has dissolved. Use half of this to marinade the chicken for a few hours. Keep the rest to drizzle over chicken (Step 4) and for the Balsamic Sauce to be served on the side (Step 6).
2. Preheat oven to 200°C.
3. Arrange chicken and the juice it was marinating in, capsicum, onion, garlic and thyme in a large roasting pan.
4. Bake for 15 minutes and add cherry tomatoes. Drizzle a few tablespoons of extra marinade over chicken and bake for a further 20-25 minutes. Retain pan juices.

Champs Mash:

1. Boil potatoes in a saucepan of water until tender. Drain and return to saucepan. Mash until almost smooth. Add sour cream, butter and most of the spring onion. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle extra spring onion on top.

Balsamic Sauce:

1. Place remaining marinade in a saucepan with pan juices. Stir over low heat until thickened.

To Serve: Arrange vegetables on a plate with chicken on top. Drizzle sauce over chicken and serve with champs mash and extra sauce in a gravy boat on the side.