Ingredients
Serves 4Chicken with Lemon, Olives and Lentils
4 chicken breasts, skin on
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
2 tsp Gourmet Garden Garlic
½ tbsp Gourmet Garden Italian herbs
½ cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
1½ cups lentils small green lentils or du puy if you can get them, rinsed and soaked over night in cold water
1 lemon, sliced as thin as possible
1 cup Sicilian green olives or Spanish green olives
4 sprigs of thyme
Half a handful of flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
Baked Fig and Rice Tart with Cloud Cream
15 dried figs, sliced in half leaving a round fig, and poached in a little water until soft.
4 tablespoons Grand Marnier
4 cups skim milk
1 vanilla bean, split
½ cup Arborio rice, rinsed
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp natural honey
2 medium organic eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons lite cream
one sheet sweet crust pastry, not cooked, just rolled out, and docked
2 dessert spoon melted unsalted butter
2 dessert spoon caster sugar
Powdered sugar-optional garnish
Cloud cream:
1 cup skim milk
¼ tsp vanilla essence
Method
Recipes courtesy of Dominique Rizzo
Chicken with Lemon, Olives and Lentils
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Drizzle a little olive oil into the base of a casserole or baking dish and scatter in the drained soaked lentils. Heat a heavy based pan and pour in a little olive oil, place the chicken skin side down and cook for 4 minutes until the skin is golden and starting to crisp up, turn the chicken over and season with a little salt and pepper. Cook the breast again for another 4 minutes or until golden in colour. Remove the chicken from the pan and place on top of the lentils. Add a little more olive oil to the pan, add in the onions, sliced fennel and sauté until softened, add in the Gourmet garden garlic and the Italian herbs. Pour the wine over the onions and allow to cook for 3 minutes, add in the stock and stir. Pour the onion, fennel , white wine and stock over the chicken and arrange the lemon slices, olives, and thyme over the chicken pushing the lemons into the stock a little. Season again with a little salt and pepper.
Place the baking dish in the oven to bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken is done and the juices run clear when pierced with a knife or fork, (keep in mind that the chicken will continue to cook when you take it out of the oven). Remove the chicken from the casserole dish and cover with foil. Place the casserole dish onto the stove top over a moderate heat. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook until the liquid is just covering the lentils and the lentils are al dente, stir in the chopped parsley. Place a spoon full of lentils onto the plate, place the chicken onto the lentils and pour a little sauce over the chicken. Serve with a side of greens.
Diva Delicious Baked Fig and Rice Tart with Cloud Cream
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Press the pastry into a greased fluted tart tin and set aside in the fridge.
In a small bowl combine the sliced poached figs and the liquor and set aside.
In a small saucepan combine the milk and vanilla bean and bring to a boil, turn off the heat and add the rice, a pinch of salt, and the honey and cook over low heat for 30 – 40 minutes or until the rice is soft to bite. If the rice gets too dry add in a little more milk until the desired texture is achieved.
Allow to cool slightly and beat in the eggs, cream and the liquor reserving the fruit. Place the fruit into the prepared crust.
Pour over the rice filling and drizzle the melted butter over the top of the filled pastry. Sprinkle with the sugar over the top and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. For the cloud cream, pour the skim milk and the vanilla into a jug, with a stick blender with a frothing attachment whip the milk until foamy and creamy. Serve on the side. Serve hot or cold.