RECIPE | Mexican chicken tray bake

Makes: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs and 4 chicken drumsticks

15ml (1 tbsp) taco or chicken seasoning

1 jar tomato salsa, or 1 can chopped tomato & onion

500g pumpkin or butternut, seeded, peeled, cut into wedges

1 red onion, cut into wedges

3 red and yellow peppers, seeded, thinly sliced

1 punnet mixed cherry tomatoes

15ml (1 tbsp) avocado or olive oil

1 avocado, stoned, peeled, thinly sliced

Chilli-lime cream:

180ml sour cream or plain full cream yoghurt

10ml (2 tsp) chilli or hot sauce (optional)

15ml (1 tbsp) lime juice

Fresh coriander

Serving tip: Add additional mashed avocado or guacamole to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC. In a large bowl, toss the chicken thighs and drumsticks with the taco seasoning.
2. Spoon tomato salsa over the base of a casserole dish. Arrange the pumpkin, onion, peppers and tomatoes over the salsa. Top with chicken mixture. Drizzle with oil.
3. Bake, turning occasionally, for 35-40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Set aside for 5 minutes to rest.
4. Meanwhile, to make the chilli-lime cream, combine the sour cream, chilli sauce and lime juice in a small bowl. Season.
5. Arrange the avocado and coriander over the chicken mixture in the pan. Serve with the chilli-lime cream and extra guacamole.

• See avocado.co.za