Dukkah spiced breast of chicken with minted baba ghanoush & skordalia

Serves 4

4 cornfed chicken breasts (nice and plump)
240g baba ghanoush – see recipe below
200ml skordalia – see recipe below
Quarter bunch coriander leaves
Half bunch mint leaves
Vegetable oil for cooking
Dukkah spice crust – see recipe below
Salt & Pepper

Heat a large frying pan; season the chicken breasts and begin to seal and brown in the pan.  Turnover once in the pan, and place in a hot oven (180°C -190°C) for 10-12 minutes (until the breasts are cooked). Take out, dip in the dukkah crust and return to the oven for a further 2-3 minutes; take out and leave to rest.

Lay out the serving plates and spoon some of the baba ghanoush onto the middle of the plates.  Cut the breasts of chicken, once, through the middle and lay slightly off the middle of where the baba is.  Garnish with some picked coriander and mint leaves and drizzle some of the skordalia over the chicken and over the leaves.  The rest can be served in a sauceboat.

Flat bread, pitta or a mixed salad is a nice accompaniment for this dish.

400g aubergines
1 clove of garlic
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp tahini
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of Cayenne pepper
1 -2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)
½ bunch picked mint leaves – chopped
1-2 tbsp sesame oil

Slit the skin of each aubergine once or twice. Put them on a baking sheet, place under a pre-heated grill 12-15 cm away from the direct heat.  Grill for 20-30 minutes, or until the skin is blackened, blistered and burned and the pulp is soft, turning them once.

Remove the aubergines from the grill, cool slightly and scrape the pulp from the skin.  Place the pulp in a blender and purée for a few seconds only; add garlic, tahini, sesame and olive oil, blend well – season to taste.

Add the chopped mint, leave to stand.

2 cloves of garlic
40g ground almonds
Half loaf of stale bread (cut the crusts off)
140ml extra virgin olive oil
120ml sunflower oil
2 large potatoes - cooked
Juice of 1 lemon
Rock salt to taste
Fresh milled black pepper

Grind the garlic and almonds together in a pestle and mortar (if you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can do this in a food processor or coffee grinder).  Soak the stale bread in water for 30 seconds.  Squeeze out the liquid.  Put half of the bread into a food processor, then add the potatoes.  Slowly add the sunflower oil.  Then, add remaining ingredients (including of the other half of the bread).

120g hazelnuts
4tspn sesame seeds
2 tspn cumin seeds
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp Maldon sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Roast the hazelnuts, sesame seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in separate pans (being careful not to burn them) – 2 to 3 minutes on a low heat should suffice.  Remove as much of the brown skin from the hazelnuts as you can.  In a pestle and mortar (if you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can do this in a food processor or coffee grinder), grind the coriander and cumin seeds to a powder, then remove.  Next, pound the sesame seeds – but be careful not to overdo them as they will release too much oil.  Do the same with the hazelnuts then combine everything together and season with salt and pepper.

This mix can be kept for up to 10 days in a sealed plastic container and can also be used to season meats and fish.