Chicken Provencale with roasted peppers, courgettes and olives

As you know I have been on a quest to find meals that freeze well. Sadly most recipes don’t have any advice on freezing. Nevertheless I have come up with a selection of great meals that freeze well and are healthy too. We all have such hectic lives these days that having a few tasty meal in the freezer is an absolute winner. A good way to build up your supply is cook one new dish each night for a week but instead of making just enough for dinner make a few extra portions and freeze them. By the end of the week you will have 10 – 15 fabulous meals tucked away for a rainy day. Excellentio!

Ingredients (serves 6 to 8 people)

1.5 kg boneless chicken thigh (ideally free range)
60 grams butter
3 tins of peeled tomatoes
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
3 courgettes
2 red onions
8 cloves of garlic
12 anchovy fillets
4 vine ripened tomatoes
Small bunch of parsley
1 1/2 glass of white wine
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Tsp of sugar
1 small jar of Kalamata olives (about 300 grams)

Method

Halve and remove the seeds for the peppers and pop in a ceramic oven proof dish, add an anchovy fillet a 1/4 of a tomato and sliced garlic (2 cloves between the lot). Liberally drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 45 mins – 1 hour or until peppers have collapsed and are tender.

As the peppers are baking finely dice the onion and crush the rest of the garlic. Saute in a large glug of olive oil (about 3 tbsp) and a pinch of salt. Saute on a low-medium heat until soft and sweet. Add 4 anchovy and continue to cook until they are “melted”.

Add the tinned peeled tomatoes, 1 glass of white wine and the drained Kalamata olives and tsp of sugar.

Bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat until tomatoes have broken down (30 mins).

While the sauce is simmering, trim the chicken removing any excess fat. Melt butter in a heavy based frying pan add chicken and brown all over . Once browned remove and set aside in a separate bowl/plate. Do not over crowd the pan so do this in batches.

Once all chicken is browned pop it back into the pan and add a little wine to ensure all the pan flavours are used. Simmer for a couple of minutes then add into the tomato sauce (add a little water if sauce is too thick). Simmer for a further 35 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through and tender).

Slice the courgettes length wise into 4 mm slices (approx). Toss in olive oil and season with S & P and grill in a char grilling pan. If you do not have one you can roast the courgettes in the oven on a baking sheet or fry in a normal frying pan.

The courgettes need to tender.

Slice courgettes into 2 cm slices and mix through sauce with finely chopped parsley. Season to taste and serve with one halved baked pepper. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes. Delish!

When freezing, portion out into individual serves adding 1 half pepper to each. Make sure the chicken is cooled as quickly as possible and frozen straight away.

This should keep for 3 months in the freezer. Remove from freezer 1 day before and defrost thoroughly in fridge before reheating. Reheat by popping into a heavy based sauce pan and slowly bringing to a simmer. Always ensure that when reheating food it is heated until piping hot. Try not to reheat too vigorously as it may toughen up the chicken.