Foodie Fridays - Roast Chicken, Potatoes and Stuffing with Ratatouille on the side!

I love the weekends for 2 reasons. 1 - I get to spend time with Dumpling and 2, I get to cook and experiment in the kitchen.

As much as I love cooking and eating, I still have not been very successful in getting Dumpling to eat more greens. She does eat them but (sadly) very minimally. We chanced upon 'Ratatouille' during lunch over the weekend and surprisingly, Dumpling really likes them. Perhaps it is because it uses tomatoes as its 'base' or perhaps it complemented the Chicken Breast (the mains) but well, she basically polished that off.

Encouraged, I decided to try my hand at creating it. There was only one minor set-back, we promised her that we will cook Roast Chicken and we have only 1 oven. So, I started searching for a 'no-bake' Ratatouille recipe. I am pleased to share that the recipe is pretty straightforward and easy.

::  Ratatouille - The Gathering List
- 1 egg plant
- 1 yellow capsicum diced
- 1 red capsicum diced
- 1 zucchini sliced
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 clove of garlic
- Thyme
- Fresh basil

:: The Cookout 
1. Crush garlic, add diced onions and fry till onions are a little caramelised
2. Add diced capsicums next and fry till a tad soft
3. Add zucchinis and eggplants and stir in canned tomatoes.
4. Add thyme
5. Add salt to taste (I used a mix of garlic salt and table salt)
6. Stir in basil & water
Optional: You can add in vegetable stock for a sweeter taste.

::  Roast Chicken - The Gathering List
- 1 chicken
- 1 small potato, skinned and diced
- Stuffing (I had some frozen stuffing in the freezer hence added this in)

:: The Cookout 
1. Marinate the chicken about 3 - 4 hours prior with mixed dried herbs (I used McCormicks), a few dashes of garlic salt & red pepper powder and rub it in, on each side. Because my hubs prefer the chicken skin to have a bit more flavour and a tad browner, we usually add a dash of red wine marinade with it. You can also use a bit of A1 sauce and if you do not have, Oyster sauce is other alternative (yes, I know that this is supposed to be a western meal but it works!)

2. Steam potatoes prior and mix it with stuffing

3. Stuff potatoes and stuffing into chicken cavity and use toothpicks to seal it up

4. Pre-heat oven (I went at 220C for about 15 mins)

5. Roast chicken for 35-40 mins at 210C. (That's the temperature for my oven which runs a bit hotter, so please check yours regularly) I placed the chicken on a strainer, so that it is elevated from the baking dish so that the oil can drip out)

Serve hot with Ratatouille and the potato stuffing on the side. YUMMY!!!!