Bill Granger's Baked Chicken with Lemon, Potato and Green Olives

Wow!  I made this dish in February 2024!  Crikey, how time flies.  This is a dish from Bill Granger, well-known and beloved Aussie cook who died way too young on Christmas Day 2023.  We ate at his Bondi restaurant several times over the years, on our trips down south.  And we always had a good feed there :=)  His scrambled eggs were legendary - nearly equal parts eggs to cream!  (I posted my version of his eggs in Feb 2024, too!)  Must have been a good month :=)

Have just been to the Japanese shop again!  Mmm, did I buy a few too many Pocky sticks, and matcha biscuits?  Well, maybe.  And they've opened a Japanese deli next door, and there'll be a cafe as well soon.  And of course, can't forget the Asian shop nearby - with even more delights!  My pantry is groaning.  I remember Mr P.'s SIL diving into our pantry one day, and being dragged out by her hubby.  She thought it was full of fascinating stuff - and how right she was - hehehe :=)

    

how good does this look?  Yep, heaps good!

Serves 4:

ingredients:

1kg/2.2lb potatoes like Desiree (a good roasting tater, as Samwise Gamgee would say)

1 red onion, cut into big chunks or wedges (peeled of course, silly!)

75g./2.6 oz green olives

1 lemon, sliced

50g./1.8 oz pancetta, or bacon, or capers or caperberries, or all of 'em

2 dried or fresh bay leaves  -  I used 6!

1 Tbs tomato paste

1 Tbs balsamic vinegar  (but use whatever you have; I used cranberry balsamic)

120mL/4 oz chicken stock  (pour it into a jug for easy stirring)

1.2kg/2.6lb chicken thighs (I used skinless, and boneless)  see Notes

1 Tbs EV olive oil

sea salt flakes

freshly ground black pepper, to taste - maybe 10-12 grinds?

1/2-1 tsp chilli flakes  (optional)

yep, it's taters!

and a lemon

Method:

Whack on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Chop the taters (potatoes) into chunks (you choose the size), and tip them into a roasting pan (I like to line my baking dish with baking paper = easy cleaning)

Then chuck the onion chunks, olives, lemon slices, pancetta and bay leaves over the potato pieces

Now comes the tomato paste and vinegar - which you stir into your jug of chicken stock - give it a good mix!

And pour this mixture over your veg. in the tray/pan

Your chicken pieces go on top of the veg. and the stock in the pan

Then drizzle the EVoo over it all, and season with salt, pepper (and chilli flakes if using)

Shove the dish into the oven, and bake for 50 minutes

Now take it out of the oven, remove the chicken pieces, and crank up your oven to 220C/430F

Place the dish back into the oven with the veg. mix, and bake for a further 10-15 minutes till the veg. looks well-coloured and delicious

The chicken goes back into the pan, on top of the veg., for serving  (Bill says to take out the bay leaves first ... hehehe)

red onion, natch!

you know what these are, my friends :=)

Notes:

Bill says to use a 1.7kg/3.7 lb chicken, jointed - but why not buy 'em in pieces already, I say? :=)  And I cut 'em up into 3 or 4 pieces

I'd suggest throwing in a few whole cloves of garlic too!

ingredients gathered 

veg. in the baking dish

on go the chicken pieces

out comes the cooked chook

and back go the veg.

and done!

eat up!

delicious!

juicy, salty - yum!

green olives

In My Kitchen - October 2025

Phew!  September was a busy month.  And I have a feeling that October will roar on by too.  My talk to the Historical Society went well (I think), and you can view it on YouTube, my friends!  (Just email me, and I can send you the link.)

Mr P. will be going in for treatment in October, so neither of us are looking forward to that.  But here's hoping it's all for the best.  He is a very positive person, and I think that helps.  He has been disabled since his young manhood, so it seems bloody unfair to add this!

the cuz painting the (back) eastern wall!

Not in my kitchen, but underneath :=)  The cuz came up from Melbourne, expressly to help us paint the back wall.  So very kind of her.  And it looks so good!  Thanks cuz!  (That's a mango tree on the left, an olive tree on the right, and a persimmon, and a jaboticaba tree on the left-hand side of the house.  And of course, the old Hills Hoist on the left.  Who needs a clothes dryer when you have the sun?)

In My Kitchen:

a new electric jug

Mr P. cannot lift a jug of water, so we have this one on a gimbal.  It means he can just push the handle forward, and the water falls into his mug.  A brilliant invention!

had to buy some more of this!

and this!

the Asian store was calling my name ... again ...

a (very) belated birthday gift from a lovely friend

and I bought this!  I adore Emma Bridgewater pottery

I made wholegrain mustard for Mr P.'s sandwiches

a wonderful friend brought this back from Singapore for me!

Guess who?  Yep, it's Tintin!  There is a big Tintin shop in Singapore (literally called The Tintin Shop!), so our dear friend Madame M. got this beauty for me when she was there recently.

I made toasted muesli

I ordered some goodies from Tasmania

and I made rice pudding - with rose and cream, and brown sugar

and the curveball!

I bought this wonderful crabby palette from Jacklyn Foster Art.  I love her foodie art pieces.  And I bought a new iphone cover with her crab on it, too!  Yep, the crab is my star sign.

and a very sneaky extra curveball - the phone cover

c. Sherry M.

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