One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage

While I was looking around for a carbonara recipe I came across this recipe from Nigella Lawson. I thought it looked interesting so I showed it to DD and he thought it looked interesting, so we abandoned plans to have a chicken stir-fry for one of our meals and we gave Nigella's One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage recipe a try.

It has quite a few reader reviews on the Food Network site. Lots of them are very enthusiastic, others less so. I read through a few of them and made a few tweaks to the method. Lots of reviewers felt that the amount of oil (half a cup) was way too much and made the dish really greasy. I halved the recipe and used an eighth of a cup of oil. It was fine, not oily at all.

I also was using chicken breast fillet pieces without bones or skin, so I was a little apprehensive about the cooking time. Some reviewers complained that the chicken really dried out. So, I put the sausages into the oven on their own for about ten or so minutes, took them out and turned them over, put them back in for about five minutes before I added the chicken and onion and the marinade. This meant that I could base the cooking time on how long it took to cook the chicken and not worry about the sausages. It was done in about 23 minutes after adding the chicken. Nigella says to cook it for 1 hour and 15 min, but there was no way mine was going to need anywhere near that long.

It was great. I love the flavour combination of English mustard and worcestershire sauce. I love Nigella's Sake Steak and Rice recipe which uses it too. This recipe is a little more of a complex with the addition of lemon. We served it with some steamed rice on the side.

Next time I will increase the amount of worcestershire sauce - it got a little lost in the mustard and lemon. I will also cook the sausages for a little bit longer on their own. They were cooked at the end, but I would have liked them a little bit more cooked. We'll definately be making this again though.

One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage
adapted from Nigella Feasts by Nigella Lawson

1 large onion
30ml grapeseed oil
2 teaspoons English mustard
1 tablespoon dried sage (I used ground sage)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon
2 1/2 chicken breast fillets, cut into thirds
4 sausages, cut in half
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves

Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and put into a freezer bag with the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Cut lemon in half, squeeze juice into bag, and then cut the halves into eighths and add them. Squidge everything around to mix (the mustard needs help to combine) and then add the chicken pieces. Leave to marinade in the refrigerator overnight, or for up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature in its marinade.

Place the sausages into the roasting tin and put into the oven. After 10 minutes, turn the sausages over and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.

Remove the roasting tin from the oven and rrange the chicken pieces in a roasting tin with the marinade, including all the bits and pieces, and tuck the sausages around them. Sprinkle the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages and then put the tin into the oven to cook for 20-25 minutes. Turn the sausages and chicken over half way through to color them evenly.

Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.