Baked Lemon Chicken with Ricotta and Spring Vegetable Puree

Photography by Ben Dearnley

Baked chicken breasts is given a gourmet twist with the addition of a ricotta and herb side.

Serves: 6 people

Ingredients

• 6 chicken breast fillets with skin (wing bone attached - optional)
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 bunch mint, leaves picked
• 1 bunch oregano, leaves picked
• 200g sugar snap peas
• 450g fresh peas, podded
• 2 bunches thin asparagus, woody ends trimmed
• 250g thin green beans, trimmed
• 1 cup (240g) low-fat fresh ricotta
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Potato wafers, to serve (see related recipe)

Method

• Place chicken, oil, and lemon in a large bowl. Tear half the mint leaves and add to the chicken with half the oregano. Season and toss to coat the chicken, then cover and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cook the sugar snaps and peas in a large pan of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Add asparagus and beans and cook for a further 2 minutes, then drain. Place in a bowl of iced water to stop cooking.
• Roughly chop half the vegetables, then blend in a food processor with the ricotta, garlic, and remaining herbs (reserving a few mint leaves to garnish) until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan, season, then set aside.
• Heat an ovenproof frypan over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade (reserving lemon slices) and cook skin- side down, in batches, for 2-3 minutes until golden. Turn and cook for 1 minute, then turn skin-side up and add reserve lemon to pan. Transfer to the oven for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
• Meanwhile, place the ricotta sauce over very low heat for 1 minute just to heat through. Reheat the remaining blanched vegetables in a pan of boiling salted water for 30 seconds, then drain.
• Divide the sauce among serving plates and top with chicken. Place some of the green vegetables, and the parsley and potato wafers on the plates, then drizzle everything with a little olive oil and scatter with the reserved mint leaves.

(Source.)