Chicken, Halloumi & Olive Rice
Chicken legs are marinated in paprika & sesame seeds then oven cooked. The rest of the dish is cooked in the same pan to make clean up a breeze. It's a simple midweek dinner that's packed with middle eastern flavours.
Serves 4
Effort: Easy
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 45 mins
Gluten free
Ingredients
1kg chicken legs
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp sesame seeds
olive oil
1 cup green olives, pit removed
100g halloumi, diced roughly
1 tbsp sumac
3 cups of cooked brown rice
2 cups of spinach
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Fresh parsley to serve
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 220c/ 200c fan. Place the chicken drumsticks in a large bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil, paprika, sesame seeds and a good grind of salt and pepper each. Toss to coat the drumsticks evenly before placing in a dish that can be used both in the oven and on the hob (cast iron works well here).
Place the drumsticks in the oven and roast for 35 mins turning once halfway through.
In the meantime, cook your brown rice as per packet instructions. One cup uncooked brown rice yields about 3 cups cooked rice. Drain and set a side for later.
Once your chicken drumsticks have cooked remove from the pan and place on plate, cover loosely with foil. You can pop them back into the turned off oven to keep warm.
Place the pan with the chicken juices on a medium heat, add olives and halloumi and cook until heated through and the olives are slightly blistered.
Add cooked rice and 1 tbsp sumac, cook, stirring often, until all the juices are absorbed, about 3 minutes.
Add spinach and lemon juice and cook, stirring occasionally, until greens are wilted, about 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat; stir in lemon zest, and top with the chicken legs. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed and sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.
Hints & tips
Chicken legs - Chicken legs are used in this recipe. They are economical and have great flavour when roasted. Feel free to swap to any other chicken your have on hand.
Easy swaps - Brown rice can be swapped for preferred rice.
Halloumi can be swapped for a hard feta - if making this swap add in just after the rice with the spinach.
Serving suggestion - This dish is a whole meal as it stands. Add extras crunchy greens on the side for an extra veg hit.
Portion size - Serves 4 or 2 with leftovers.
Storage - Store in the fridge for 3 days. Suitable for freezing.
