Convenience food

I’m not a complete food snob. Or, more to the point, I’m less of a food snob than I was.

But I don’t really like ‘fast food’ from ‘restaurants’ that have iconic signage in bright colours.
You won’t find pre-made foil sealed cartons of stock in my pantry. No store bought ‘simmer sauces’ and salad dressings. No pre-packaged pizza bases or cake mix. No microwave pre-cooked rice and dehydrated macaroni cheese. But there’s tinned chickpeas and tomatoes. Cans of Italian tuna and sardines and a bottle of anchovies. We have jars of mayonnaise and mustard in the fridge. Sweet chilli sauce and tomato sauce. Capers. Olives. Plenty of fast food. Plenty of convenience. Plenty of processed food. Not everything is ‘from scratch’.

Not everything I cook is fancy. Not everything that looks fancy is that difficult.

Some nights dinner is just eggs on toast.

Sometimes I just need things to be easy.

Chicken. Easy. Quick.

This takes less than a minute to pull together – yes, then you have to wait half an hour for it to cook.

Chicken – marylands, drumsticks, thigh chops – as many as you want to eat.
1 tub / jar of olives (I used un-pitted green Sicilian olives – any good quality olives, black or green would be fine)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes (about 300g)
1 tbsp capers (I prefer in brine, but rinse capers-in-salt work too)
Lemon rind
Garlic cloves, skin on
Olive oil – about 2 tbsp

Throw everything in a baking dish and cook in a moderate oven until the chicken is cooked, about half an hour.

Serve with bread.

Or go all out and serve with roast potatoes and salad.