It’s a common misconception that you need a whole lot of stuff to make something utterly scrumptious. All you really need is imagination and a few basic ingredients whose flavours you can combine to turn a dish into something wonderful.

Last night marked the return of my favourite kind of dish; the one-pan wonder. This time I was in the mood for a dark red, juicy, tangy zing to my chicken, and what better way to get just that than adding sun-dried tomatoes.

I even took it a step further and used a sun-dried tomato cook-in sauce to amp up the flavour. What a brilliant dish it turned out to be. So easy, so more-ish and so-so filling.

Who’s hungry? Vincent, our housemate and I. But this recipe will fill 4 bellies.

Ingredients

• 800 g chicken pieces (4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)
• 800 g pumpkin cubes
• 400 g green beans
• 200 ml sun-dried tomato coat & cook sauce
• 390 g Italian chopped tomatoes with basil
• 15 sun-dried tomatoes, and their oil
• 45 ml chicken spice
• 45 ml paprika
• 35 ml oreganum
• 30 ml olive oil
• salt
• ground black pepper

Let’s cook

First, heat the olive oil in your electric frying pan or large, deep pan on the stove. Then spice your chicken pieces with chicken spice and paprika (both sides) and pop them into the warm pan.

Brown both sides for about 2 minutes per side.

Add the butternut. Spice ’em up with oreganum.

Add the cook-in sauce.

Mix well and let it cook uncovered for 2 minutes. Then add the chopped tomatoes.

Stir through and let simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes and the extra oil from their container.

Now add the green beans on top.

Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Open it up and give it a good stir. Then add salt and pepper (lots of pepper!) and close it back up again. Turn the heat down low so it very gently simmers. Let it cook for 35 to 45 minutes, opening up and stirring carefully every 10 minutes.

Gauge whether it’s too watery for you and let it simmer uncovered to thicken the sauce. Mine was just right!

Dish up and dig in

Serve with rice for a more substantial helping. I enjoyed mine just as is and it was divine!

Try my super easy recipe!