Lemon and parsley chicken breast with butternut, spinach and Israeli couscous salad

I have heaps of parsley in my herb patch. And that's cool because I love parsley. I wanted a dish full of this flavour. I thought about making a parsley soup, but wasn't sure whether dinosaurs (in particular mini T-Rex) would like it.
I recently attended a team cooking challenge with my workmates; the chef taught us how to prepare a 3-course meal for 12 people in 2 hours or so - The time went so fast I don't exactly remember how long it took. Well, one of the dish was a lemon and parsley chicken breast - perfect to satisfy my sudden crush for parsley. Although I slightly revisited the recipe to make it a bit healthier - the question was: can I make such a moist and yummy chicken breast with a minimum of fat? The short answer is 'Yes! You can!'

I did remove the skin off the chicken and dramatically reduced the amount of oil. I put a twist on the original recipe, which was served with Salsa Verde, by adding the capers into the marinade to give it a little tang. And it work out gorgeous!
On the side I served a yummy butternut and spinach Israeli couscous salad, naturally sweetened with sultana.

At first glance, the recipe may look a bit of a multi-tasking challenge, but it's not. It seems to be just because they are several preparation involved. I tried to give as much tips as I could think of to get organised in time and make this ready for serve within 40-45 mins (aside the marinade time). But you could also choose to give yourself more time and prepare each element separately and sequentially and keep them warm (in the oven for example) until it's time to serve.

Ingredients (6 servings) Marinade - 20 g parsley leaves - the juice of 2 fresh lemons - the zest of half a lemon - 2 tbsp pure olive oil - 2 tsp capers - salt, black pepper Chicken - 2 beautiful chicken breasts, skinless* (approx. 1 kg) - 2 tbsp pure olive oil Note. I personally find that one breast is too much for one serve, but my partner could easily have one on his own. So I recommend you adjust the quantity of meat according to your needs. Here I served six people with only two (large) breasts each cut in three pieces. Don't forget to adjust the marinade quantity, as well. Salad - 1 medium size butternut, diced into 1 cm cubes - 100g green and red spinach with baby kale mix* - 1 cup Israeli couscous - 20 g sultana - 10 g parsley leaves (whole leaves) - 2 garlic cloves, 'en chemise',* meaning unpeeled - 1 tsp olive oil - salt, black pepper Dressing - 2 tsp honey - 2 tbsp lime and olive oil - 3 tbsp lemon juice (or less to taste) - salt, black pepper

Preparation & Cooking (30-45 mins + marinade)

The marinade

1. Blend all the marinade ingredients together.

2. Incise - just incise not cut - the chicken breast in its thickest part. This will let the marinade to flavour the meat from the inside.

3. Rub the chicken breasts with the marinade, including in the little incisions you've made in step 2. Do not hesitate putting parsley into the chicken (almost like a stuffing) as it will look nice on the plate once the meat carved.

4. Season with salt and black pepper.

5. Let marinate in a baking dish for at least 60 mins (I did let it in the marinade for 3.5 hours and the meat was flavoursome!).

Prepare the salad

This salad is supposed to be only slightly warm thanks to the butternut and the Israeli couscous, but the spinach and parsley are not cooked, thus bringing freshness and texture to the salad. 

All the elements of the salad can be prepared/cooked in advance and the warm elements can be reheated at the last minute. It is important you mix the warm and the cold elements together only at the very last minute, otherwise the parsley and the spinach will cook, and the salad won't look nor taste fresh. Add the dressing at the very end. Just follow the steps I detailed for you and you'll make it!

1. Preheat the oven, grill at 200C.

2. Dice the butternut into 1 cm cubes. Oil, season, add the garlic, season and bake at 180-200C for about 15 mins. Stir or flip after 10 mins. Keep an eye on the butternut in the last five mins as you don't want to burn them.

3. While the butternut is in the oven, fry the Israeli couscous in 2 tbsp of olive oil. When slightly coloured, add 2 cups of water. Stir occasionally. When all the water is absorbed, taste. If still a bit firm, then add a little bit more water until cooked through.

4. When the butternut is roasted, reduce the oven at 175C for the chicken 

- If you haven't yet, you really got to look at the Cooking the chicken section (below) before you go any further.

5. The chicken is now in the oven. Mix and rest the butternut and the Israeli couscous together. 

Discard the garlic; it was used to flavour the butternut during the roasting process, it is not used in the salad itself.

6. Mix together the spinach, the parsley and the sultana - but not yet with the butternut.

7. Prepare the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together.

8. While the chicken is resting, mix all the elements together.*

Cooking the chicken

1. Heat 2 tbsp of pure olive oil in a pan. Sear* the breast on high heat, one or two mins on each side or until they are nicely coloured, and put back in the baking dish with the marinade.

2. Put in the oven (grill at 175C) for about 17-20 mins. It is crucial that you check the meat in the last finve mins, as the timing is strongly related to the size of your chicken breast and of course how long you seared them before.

3. Rest the meat a minute or two before craving it into three thick slices.

4. Pour the cooked marinade over the meat, as you like.

Now you're ready to plate up the salad and the chicken! 

Bon appétit!

Tips

* It's up to you to keep the skin on; I prefer to reduce fat as much as possible, given the good amount of olive oil this recipe uses, I always go for skinless. It's the cooking that will make your meat juicy and tender.

* This mix can be replaced by baby spinach only, but I really likes the rustic texture and taste of baby kales. A little thing that changes the look and the taste of your usual family dinner.

* Garlic en chemise refers to the French cooking term for unpeeled garlic. It is commonly used in roasted or based veggie dish or garlic confit.

* I like to mix al la mano (by hands) as it allows for a more even repartition of the dressing all through the salad. This way you don't need extra dressing, which also means extra calories!* Searing means to cook hot and fast to brown the surface and to seal in the juices. This will guarantee you a juicy meat.