Grilled chicken with roasted spring vegetables, lemon and chilli

Grilled chicken with roasted spring vegetables, lemon and chilli. Photograph: Harry Weir
Grilled chicken with roasted spring vegetables, lemon and chilli. Photograph: Harry Weir
Serves: 2
Course: Main Course
Cooking Time: 0 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken fillets (150g each)
  • A drizzle of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 medium sized leek
  • 1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed
  • A few sprigs of thyme
  • 50ml water
  • A good handful of baby spinach
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 50ml olive oil
  • 1 level tsp caster sugar
  • 1 small red chilli, finely diced
  • Parmesan, grated

1 Set the oven to 200 degrees.

2 Carefully butterfly the breasts of chicken, that is to say you cut almost all the way through evenly from the side, and open the fillet out, like a book.

3 Place the chicken in between some greaseproof paper, then bat gently with a rolling pin till it's ½cm thick and even. Drizzle with a little olive oil, season, set aside.

4 Cut the leeks into 1cm pieces then give them a rinse to make sure they are clean. Put them on a roasting tray with the asparagus, thyme and water. Season and roast for 15 minutes until they are soft and a little frazzled. Remove the tray from the oven and add the spinach to the tray to wilt in the residual heat. Season the vegetables and keep them warm.

5 While the vegetables are cooking, you need to cook the chicken and make the dressing. Making sure the pan is smoking hot, cook the chicken for four minutes on one side, then for three on the other.

6 For the dressing, mix the lemon juice with the olive oil, sugar and chilli, season, then add a little of it to the vegetables, making sure they are nicely coated.

7 Serve the chicken on warm plates with the vegetables and a generous scattering of Parmesan.

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn is a chef, restaurateur and contributor to The Irish Times. He and his wife, Máire, run the Tannery restaurant and cookery school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford