Jac marinated chicken marylands with barbecue seasoning, then baked them in the oven.

Interesting fact Here in Australia we call the cut of chicken that includes the entire chicken leg – thigh and drumstick – a chicken maryland. In the US “chicken Maryland” refers to a specific dish that originated in the state of Maryland. Do any of you guys also know this cut of chicken as chicken maryland too? It’s my favourite butcher’s cut of chicken as it features the dark meat in all its glory.

Jac also baked tomatoes and served them topped with a smear of pesto from a jar.

Jac’s going through a phase where she wants any excuse to use her V-Slicer (a kind of mandoline), which we bought ages ago. Since we had red and yellow homegrown capsicums from our garden, vegetables in the fridge and leftover pizza mix that needed to be used up, she julienned the vegies using the V-Slicer and created a very interesting and tasty baked vegetable dish to go with the chicken. She called the dish baked bits and bobs vegetable medley, because she made it using all kinds of “bits and bobs”. :)

Jac’s baked bits and bobs vegetable medley

Sorry, the vagueness of the recipe reflects how it was made, or rather, how it was simply “made up”!

Ingredients

• red and yellow capsicum (bell peppers) – we used homegrown ones
• celery
• carrot
• broccoli stem – this is a great way to use broccoli stem, rather than throwing it out
• fresh English spinach
• leftover pizza mix – this was simply something we had sitting in our fridge – finely diced ham, sliced tinned champignons and diced capsicum (yes, more capsicum). You don’t really need this for the dish. But you could certainly add a little diced ham, bacon or another meat if you wanted. But keep it very finely diced so that the main items are the vegetables.
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• Salt and pepper to taste (preferably freshly cracked)

Method

1. Julienne the vegetables – Jac used a V-Slicer
2. Add fresh English spinach
3. Add pizza mix (optional)
4. Place in a small casserole dish
5. Season with freshly cracked salt and pepper
6. Add butter on top
7. Bake in oven at 200C with lid on for 20-30 minutes

Notes:
This dish can be eaten hot or cold. We ate it hot on the night Jac cooked it. We ate the leftovers as a cold side dish the next night.
The vegetables used in the recipe above just happen to be what we had growing in the garden and sitting in the fridge. You don’t need to to use those vegetables specifically; you can use other vegetables if you have them. The carrot, celery and capsicum are very good together though, in terms of texture, thickness/cooking time and colour.
The pizza mix is not essential to the dish – it’s merely what we had in the fridge to use up.

Jac also cooked potato cakes, using a potato cake mix out of a box – sorry, I didn’t write down the brand. I’ll try and find out what it was. We both agreed it is pretty lazy to use a box mix to make potato cakes (you add egg and something else to the mix – sorry, I fail at taking notes some days). They were pretty good for something made using box mix – and ultra crispy! I ate the leftovers two mornings in a row for breakfast. They were wonderful cold (still crispy!) with a cup of tea.