We’re eating less and less meat these days and have really started to embrace being vegan 4 or 5 days a week. I only ever buy organic chicken from Riverford, where we get our organic vegetable box. If I feel like I’m craving meat then this is one of my go to dishes. Super simple, the marinade helps to tenderise the chicken and the herby greens add phyto nutrients as well as vitamins and fibre.
Serves 2
Ingredients
Chicken
2 Chicken breasts (Skin off) and butterflied – see below
Marinade
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves Crushed
½ tsp dried thyme
1 lemon – zest and juice
Vegetables
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, finely diced
4 garlic cloves finely diced
10g sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped
Leaves from 4 thyme sprigs
50g chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
100g frozen peas (thawed)
1 romano pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
50ml vegetable stock
50g baby spinach, roughly chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Prepare the marinade by thoroughly mixing all the ingredients in a bowl, set aside
- Line a large board with cling film and lay a chicken breast on top, smooth side down. Using a very sharp knife, slice horizontally through the thick part of the chicken towards the other side, taking care not to slice all the way through
- Open out the chicken breast like a book, then cover it with another sheet of cling film. Bash it with a rolling pin until it is about 3mm thick all over. Remove the cling film and set the chicken breast aside in a shallow bowl. Repeat the process with the other chicken breast.
- Pour the marinade over the chicken breasts, massaging the marinade into the chicken, cover the bowl with cling film and set aside in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (ideally overnight – this is something that can be prepared the night before for a quick meal the next day)
- Prepare all the vegetables in readiness for cooking, as you won’t have time to prepare them once you start to cook the chicken
- Heat a griddle pan or large frying pan until hot and, on medium heat, cook the chicken pieces for about 4-5 minutes on one side until golden. Turn them over and cook for a further 3-4 minutes on the other side
- Meanwhile, for the vegetables, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the shallots, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, thyme and seasoning and sauté for 2 minutes (take care when adding the thyme leaves as they can spit a bit when they come into contact with the oil)
- Add the mushrooms and stir gently for 2-3 minutes
- Add the peas and pepper, pour in the stock and cook for 2 minutes.
- Fold through the spinach, remove form the heat and cover (the heat will gently wilt the leaves)
- By this time, the chicken should be cooked, so all that remains is to serve and enjoy
I you like this recipe you may also like: