This year I was put in charge of the Fathers Day lunch. I wanted to impress but with half the family away – one sister pulling beers at the local pub and another cheering her boyfriend on to a grand final win – our Sunday lunch was greatly depleted. Nonplussed I prepared a feast, with enough for the entire footy team and half the pub locals too. This dish was the victim of the over-catering – with the chicken taking longer than everything else and thus missing out at the table. I took it home (cooked and cold) to have for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. I’m sure it would be gorgeous hot too – but this is certainly a great take-to-work-the-next-day number.
Serves 2
2 small (preferably organic) chicken breasts, with skin on
A few sprigs of thyme
Juice of half a lemon (see lemon wedges below)
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 lemon wedges (cut the cheeks from the lemon and then use the rest for squeezing as above)
Watercress or parsley, to garnish (optional)
Aioli
For the vegetables –
1 small aubergine (eggplant), sliced into rings
1 red pepper, peeled and deseeded
1 large courgette, sliced diagonally
1 red onion, peeled and thickly sliced into rings
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Put the chicken breasts in a shallow dish with thyme, lemon juice, olive oil and pepper. Prepare the red pepper: click here for more details about peeling and deseeding capsicum.
Make the aioli.
To grill the vegetables and chicken, you need a cast-iron ribbed grill on the hob. This dish cannot be achieved with an overhead radiant grill.
Put all the vegetables in a deep bowl. Season well and douse generously with olive oil. With your hands, mix all the vegetables together until all are evenly coated. This is a messy operation but is the most practical method of ensuring even distribution of oil and seasoning. It doesn’t really matter in what order you grill the vegetables. Fennel takes the longest and it needs to be charred more than the others as this brings out its aniseed flavour. All the vegetables should be grilled on both sides and nicely blackened with criss-cross stripes from the grill.
As each vegetable is cooked, transfer it to another bowl; it doesn’t matter if they are warm or cold, they taste just as good either way. Taste one or two of them to see if they need more seasoning. Also, re-moisten with a little more olive oil.
Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade and season with salt on the skin side only (this helps the skin to crisp). Grill, skin side down, for about five minutes then turn through 45 degrees and grill for a further few minutes. Turn over and cook for a few minutes more until bouncy to the touch and not quite cooked. Transfer to a hot plate and invert another plate on top to allow the meat to relax and lightly steam its way through to becoming thoroughly cooked. This will take about 10 minutes.
Assemble the vegetables in the middle of a large white oval platter, and arrange the chicken breasts attractively with the lemon wedges. Pour over any remaining juices from the chicken and vegetable dishes. Serve the aioli separately. If you like you can pop bunches of watercress or parsley here and there for added colour.
This little book, similarly to Elizabeth David’s books, is (1) small enough to read in bed comfortably, and (2) enjoyable enough to keep my light on way after bed time. Elizabeth David is, in my mind, the best cookery writer of the last century - and I don't make the comparison lightly. Hopkinson takes you through 40 of his favourite ingredients, all accompanied by a little history, an anecdote or two and a fabulous collection of recipes.