Check out the latest family friendly dinner recipe from Dawn Quest. It's easy to make and delicious too.

When your day is a little frantic and your to-do list is as long as your arm, then you need dinner to be quick, easy and no-fuss.

This Easy Chicken Tray Bake fits the bill perfectly! Delicious chicken and chorizo sizzle alongside a rainbow of roasted veg to give off a lovely sweet and smoky flavour. Forget all the saucepans and dishes, just throw everything into one pan, pop it straight in the oven and one hour later you've got a healthy balanced meal for all the family. Yum!

Sometimes only a simple tray bake will do. You know, those days when you just can't be doing with lots of fuss (and saucepans) at dinnertime, but you still want to serve up a warming and delicious balanced meal for the family.

This recipe is fantastically simple, easy and no-fuss. And healthy too. All those lovely vegetables caramelise as they roast, releasing all their sugars and rich flavours. Combined with smoky chorizo (which most kids I know love) and tender chicken thighs, it all adds up to a meal that's near perfection.

If you've got a fussy eater who either a) doesn't like vegetables or b) doesn't like different foods touching each other, then the beauty of this dish is you can easily separate the different parts if you absolutely have to (and yes, I've been there). In other words, you make one meal rather than several different variations (and I've been there too).

I'm not a big fan of chicken thighs but for this recipe I've been converted. They do have much more flavour than chicken breasts and are a lot cheaper too. If you buy the skinless, boneless kind then you don't have to worry about bits of gristle or skin that can usually turn a child, or occasionally an adult, right off.

You can of course use any veg you like. Carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes would work just as well. Serve this piping hot with rice, quinoa or pasta, or it's just as good served on its own.

The chicken ideally needs a quick turn and baste every 20 minutes as it cooks just to keep it moist, but apart from that, you can just get on with all those other things on your to-do list, or maybe sit down and have a breather for a minute or two.

Serves a family of four:

Ingredients

6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
200g new potatoes
180g chorizo, chopped into bite-size chunks
4 large tomatoes
1 red onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch of fresh thyme
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.
2. Place the chicken and chorizo in a large roasting tray or pan.
3. Peel the onion and chop into wedges.
4. Chop the tomatoes into quarters.
5. Cut the peppers in half, scrape out the seeds and white pith, and then chop into large chunks.
6. Cut the new potatoes in half.
7. Squash the unpeeled garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife or use a rolling pin.
8. Add the tomatoes, onion, peppers, potatoes and garlic to the roasting tray.
9. Pick off the leaves from the thyme and sprinkle over the ingredients in the tray.
10. Now add the oil and Balsamic vinegar to the tray and throw in a good pinch of salt.
11. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together well to make sure the chicken and vegetables are evenly coated with the oil and vinegar.
12. Spread the chicken, chorizo and vegetables evenly out over the bottom of the pan, making sure the chicken isn't covered by any of the vegetables.
13. Pop in the oven and bake for around 1 hour, removing the tray every 20 minutes or so to turn the chicken pieces over with tongs and spoon over any juices from the tray.
14. Once cooked through, serve immediately.