Warm chickpea, sultana, apricot and garam marsala salad with harissa yoghurt and lemon thyme buerre noisette french trimmed chicken breast

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  • The juice of half a lemon
  • 1 teaspoon of harissa powder
  • 1 teaspoon of olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons of 0% fat Greek yoghurt
  • Pinch of sea salt
  1. To make this quick yoghurt dressing, firstly weigh out all of the ingredients as stated above.
  2. Into an artisan bowl place four tablespoons of Greek yoghurt along with a pinch of sea salt and the juice of one half of a lemon.
  3. In a separate bowl add your harissa powder along with the olive oil, and then mix together to form a paste.
  4. Ripple this through the yoghurt and reserve in the fridge until later on.

Chickpeas:

  • 250 grams of soaked chickpeas
  • 500 ml of cold water
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 10 black pepper corns
  1. Place 250 grams of soaked chickpeas into a large saucepan along with 500 grams of cold water.
  2. Next add your bay leaves along with 10 black pepper corns, place onto a high heat and allow boiling, once at this point, reduce to a simmer and simmer for 20-25 minutes until they are cooked and tender.

The salad:

  • 150 grams of sultanas
  • 5 chiffonade dried apricots
  • ½ teaspoon of garam marsala
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Zest of one lemon
  1. Once your chickpeas are perfectly cooked drain them off and place into a large serving bowl, add a pinch of Maldon sea salt.
  2. Next add the juice and zest of one lemon, along with a drizzle of cold pressed olive oil. Then add ½ teaspoon garam marsala, along with 150 grams of sultanas and 5 chiffonade dried apricots.
  3. Stir to incorporate and of course taste to make sure that the salad is perfectly seasoned.

Proteins:

By purchasing a whole free range chicken you are able to complete the quality control checks, which consist of; dry skin to touch, no aroma and lastly the chicken skin should be firm and plump.

Prep and French trim a chicken breast, the term French trim means to expose the bone, offering a more appealing product once plated. (Find the step-by-step photos of me breaking down the free-range chicken for sauté as I didn’t want to waste the other cuts, classically this will consist of two breasts, two thighs, two legs, and two wings.)

How to cook the perfect chicken breast every time:

  1. Firstly place a heavy based frying pan onto a medium heat, once the pan is up to temperature, add a generous amount of creamery butter. Allow the butter to colour a little as this helps to deliver a beautiful nutty flavour.
  2. On a separate plate or ideally a red raw chopping board, season the breast all over with freshly cracked white pepper and sea salt.
  3. Add the chicken breasts skin side down and allow to cook until a beautiful golden brown, (as colour equals flavour) just before removing from the pan add a little sprig of lemon thyme as this will perfume the butter and chicken while it cooks in the oven.
  4. To finish the chicken place into a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes until the core temperature has reached 75 degrees so it’s perfectly cooked all of the way through.

The alternative – Mackerel:

You will need… 2 whole mackerel that have been gutted and filleted if you are not comfortable about doing this ask your fishmonger to prepare these for you.

  1. Firstly place a heavy based pan onto a medium heat once the pan is up to temperature add a little olive oil as mackerel is a very oily fish any way you will need a lot of olive oil.
  2. Place your fish into the pan away from you as this way you avoid being splashed by the hot oil, cook your fish solely on the ring burner
  3. To achieve the perfect crispy skin, which everyone loves, cook your fish 80% of the way on the skin, once you see a little golden outline turn your fish over to gently cook the flesh.
  4. Remove from the pan and place onto a pre-warmed plate.

To plate:

Add your gently warmed chickpea salad to the centre of the plate then dot four spoonfuls of the yoghurt dressing around the plate and a little under the protein, carve your chicken on the angle to display the contrast between the crispy golden skin and the white flesh finish with some fresh sage leaves. To make this dish Pescatarian add the mackerel.

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