Pistachio-Crusted Chicken

Pistachio-Crusted Chicken

Ready in 30 minutes • Serves 4
This dish most recently appeared in Fresh Start (5 Nights For 4) on Sunday, October 22, 2017.
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with Greek Freekeh Salad

Ingredients

FREEKEH SALAD

  • 120g freekeh, rinsed
  • 2 tomatoes
  • ½ telegraph cucumber
  • ¼ red onion
  • ½ bag baby spinach leaves
  • 50g feta cheese

PISTACHIO-CRUSTED CHICKEN

  • 1 teaspoon oil, for cooking (or use spray oil)
  • 550g chicken breast steaks
  • 1-2 teaspoons mustard (e.g. Dijon, wholegrain)
  • 3-4 teaspoons pistachio nut spice mix

VINAIGRETTE

  • 1 tablespoon vinegar (e.g. red wine, white wine, cider)
  • 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon mustard (e.g. Dijon, wholegrain)
  • Pinch of chilli flakes/powder or cayenne powder (optional)

SUMAC YOGHURT

  • 1 pottle natural yoghurt
  • 1 teaspoon sumac

TO SERVE

  • 50g feta cheese
  • 2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil. Line an oven tray (with a lip) with baking paper. Cook freekeh in pot of boiling water for about 15 minutes, until tender with a slight bite. Drain well, rinse under cold water and leave to drain well.
  2. While freekeh is cooking, pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large fry-pan on high heat.
  3. Cook chicken for about 1 minute each side, until starting to brown (but not cooked through). Place on prepared tray. Brush one side of chicken lightly with mustard and sprinkle over 1 teaspoon pistachio nut spice mix per chicken steak, pressing down firmly with fingers to adhere. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until chicken is just cooked through. Remove from oven and rest, covered, for a few minutes. Once rested, slice thickly, reserving any resting juices.
  4. While chicken cooks, prepare the rest of the salad. In a large bowl, whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients. Dice tomatoes and cucumber 1cm; thinly slice onion; roughly chop spinach; roughly dice first measure of feta. Place all in bowl with vinaigrette.
  5. In small bowl, mix yoghurt and sumac together and set aside.
  6. Add cooked, drained freekeh to bowl with salad ingredients. Toss well and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. TO SERVE divide freekeh salad between plates and top with pistachio-crusted chicken and any resting juices (if desired). Dollop over sumac yoghurt. Crumble over remaining feta and garnish with mint.

Nutritional Information

Energy 1678 kj
401 kcal
Protein 43.1g
Carbohydrate 26.3g
Fat 13.4g