Baked Portuguese Chicken Dinner
This dish is not Piri-Piri Chicken. Nor is it an authentic Portuguese dish. Baked Portuguese Chicken Dinner is a simple tasty dish that uses Piri-Piri spice mix. And it’s so easy that if you’re not in tip-top form and inclined to forget you’ve something cooking in the oven – don’t worry you can’t mess this one up.
There were loads of proper Portuguese dishes to choose from. I was particularly drawn to Caldo Verde. One of those tasty but very healthy dishes. But I just never seemed to get around to making it. And every time I bought chorizo to make it … I ended up wolfing down the chorizo – almost straightaway.
It’s not problem. I can stop the chorizo-munching anytime I want to. Really.
Then in the supermarket one day I saw a jar of Piri-Piri seasoning. I have to admit I’ve never had Piri-Piri chicken. But I know it’s a Portuguese dish. And loads of people love it. There’s also loads of recipes for it online – here’s one. I was originally planning on following one of the recipes online but, you guessed it, I didn’t get around to it.
One evening I tried baking chicken sprinkled in some piri-piri seasoning, some paprika, some mixed herbs, a little garlic and brown sugar, with some orange, wine, potatoes and onion – and it’s so easy and so tasty I thought … well, why not? This series of recipes isn’t exactly a series of authentic traditional recipes.
Things to See & Do in Portugal
I have been to Portugal. I went on a really lovely surf-yoga holiday there some years ago. And this year I visited Madeira for first time – gorgeous place. I would recommend getting fit before you go there if you really want to enjoy all it has to offer. I couldn’t be even vaguely classed as fit at the moment so I’ll have to go back when I’ve a bit more get-up-‘n’-go.
It’s possibly good advice to get fit no matter where you are. – I should really start following my own advice.
The following are all links to things to see and do in mainland Portugal. Honestly it’s got great weather, great food and plenty to do – you could go there – or really to any of the EU countries – with no plan, no timetable and just soak it all up.
- 20 places to visit in Portugal
- You should go to Portugal just for the food
- 5 activity holidays in Portugal
Ingredients
- ~ 6 chicken thighs
- ~ 6 medium-sized potatoes,
- 2 onions
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- ~ 100 ml white wine
- Piri-Piri seasoning
- sweet paprika
- mixed herbs
- 1 garlic clove, peeled & grated
- brown sugar
- salt
- sunflower oil (for greasing the baking tea)
Instructions
- Sprinkle the chicken oyster thighs generously with piri-piri seasoning and paprika. Sprinkle with a little mixed herbs and grated garlic and then leave for 30 minutes.
- Slice the potatoes thinly, about 1/4 cm, and peel and slice the onions thinly as well.
- Turn on the oven to 180 C.
- Grease a large roasting tin with a little sunflower oil and place the potatoes slices in the bottom of the pan. It's fine if the slices are over-lapping. Sprinkle a little salt over the potato and layer the sliced onions over this. Sprinkle again with a little salt - and add a little sprinkle of mixed herbs.
- Cut the orange in half. Juice one half of the orange and add it to the white wine, along with a little squeeze of fresh lemon. Slice the other half of the orange thinly - one slice for each of the thighs. If you're finding it difficult to slice the orange thinly - just use a half slice for each thigh.
- Place an orange slices into the roasting tin and top each one with a chicken thigh.
- Pour the wine, with the added fruit juice into the tin. And add a nice little sprinkle of brown sugar on top of each thigh. Sprinkle a little salt over the whole tin.
- Cover the tin with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour.
- Take out remove the foil and bake uncovered at 200 C for a further 45 minutes. It's going to be really well done, with the skin is blackened - but it's good.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Packets of chicken oyster thighs can have anything from 5 - 8 pieces from what I've seen - it's usually the same amount of chicken though. So don't worry about the exact number.
