Cooking in a bag!

I am talking of Cooking in Oven bags; which are made of plastic, but they are created to withstand the heat of an oven.

I had read that cooking with an oven bag is one of the best ways to add flavor to foods. An oven bag seals in meat juices but it also seals in spices, and juices from vegetables. Thus you get moist, full-flavoured meat and fresh, tasty vegetables.

Also other important benefits are:

Healthier cooking – no added oil or fat required

No basting required – meat cooked in an oven bag self bastes and stays succulent

Reduces the mess –  makes cleaning your roasting pan almost effortless. There are no scorched fat juices or charred bits clinging to the side of the pan. 

Save energy – Cooking times reduced by up to 10%

So when I saw the Schwartz's Mediterranean Chicken Bag 'n Season, I picked it up to try this form of cooking for the first time.

All that I did was added 900 gm cleaned chicken along with cherry tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines (as they were lying in the refrigerator), in the oven bag provided, added the seasoning, shook it all up, sealed the bag with the enclosed bag tie and left it to marinate in the bag for a few hours. I popped it in the oven just before an hour of dinner time.  It is important to pierce the bag a few times on the top before putting it in the oven so that the bag doesn't explode with the steam trapped inside.

I love the way that you need absolutely no oil so it's really health friendly.

And after 55 minutes (instruction says 45 minutes, but we like our meat a little over done) in the oven, my dish was ready.

The meat was delicious and moist,  also the flavours were well developed courtesy to the marination time. I always found that when I cooked my meat in the oven, it used to dry up and I needed some kind of fat to braise it...but this wasn't the case this time. My thumbs up to cooking in the oven bag. I have had Mediterranean chicken before but I have to say Schwartz's Mediterranean Chicken seasoning mix had the right balance of herbs and spices for my liking and imparted a lovely favour to the chicken. 

If you haven't tried cooking bags you need to try them right away!