It is all too easy to fall into a repetitive pattern with weekday dinners, with many people relying on the same tried-and-tested recipes night after night. Fortunately, Mary Berry offers a range of simple, easy-to-cook dishes that are ideal for injecting more flavour and variety into your evening meals.
Mary Berry's Inspirational Cooking Style
The beloved TV cook is renowned for her recipes that are packed with flavour, as she skillfully adds her own creative inspiration to classic dishes. One standout example is Mary's chicken tray bake with pesto, taleggio cheese, and roasted tomatoes, which serves six people generously.
Convenience and Preparation Tips
This dish is not only quick to make but also highly convenient for busy households. It can be prepared ahead of time and frozen for up to two months, making it a perfect option for stocking the freezer for future dinners. Mary's recipe, sourced from her popular Cook Up a Feast book, has been widely praised as "scrumptious" by food enthusiasts.
Love Food magazine highlights its simplicity, noting: "It's also quick to make. Homemade pesto is best, but you can use good-quality pesto from a jar if you're short of time. Serve with potatoes and salad."
Recipe: Mary Berry's Chicken and Tomato Traybake
Ingredients
- Six skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- A pinch of salt and black pepper
- 175g taleggio cheese, cut into small cubes
- Three tablespoons of pesto
- Two tablespoons of freshly chopped basil
- Three tablespoons of full-fat cream cheese
- 50g fresh breadcrumbs
- Pinch of paprika
- 400g cherry tomatoes on the vine
- Two tablespoons of olive oil
- One tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C Fan/Gas mark 7.
- Arrange the chicken breasts in an ovenproof dish, ensuring they are not overlapping. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Mix the taleggio, pesto, basil, and cream cheese in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon the mixture onto the chicken breasts, covering them completely. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and dust with paprika.
- Bake for 20 minutes before removing from the oven. Arrange the tomatoes around the chicken, and pour the oil and vinegar over them.
- Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve the chicken and tomatoes with new potatoes and salad. Spoon some of the juices from the dish over the top.
For those wishing to prepare the dish in advance or freeze it, simply follow the steps until you place the dish in the oven, then store it appropriately for later use.
