Cumin Chicken, Pesto & Roasted Baby Carrot
Description
Utterly delicious and soooooo quick and easy to pull together!
It’s got weekdays and Fri-YAY’s written all over it!
We’ve seared the chicken using a stovetop griddle pan for the cosmetically beautiful charry lines that an outdoor BBQ creates, and then coated with a cumin based spice mix for a little added flavour.
Dairy free? No worries. You can still have pesto. HINT: It’s much cheaper to buy 1 basil plant than to purchase basil when you need it, why? because nearly 18 months ago we got our basil plant and it’s still loving life…. plus, you canget the kids outdoors AND helping to prepare dinner by asking them to pick the leaves off the basil plant. Dinner winner!
For this recipe, I specifically used baby carrots – un/fortunately I had some bright orange babies to use up and couldn’t source the fresh rainbow beauties that make a plate look spectacular, but they are just as delicious.
No basil? No worries. Where there’s a will there’s a way, if you’ve got a nice leafy bunch of fresh baby carrots, chop the tops off, rinse the leaves and pat dry and make a leafy carrot top pesto – add a little extra lemon or lime to offset the bitterness of the leaves and you’re set.
Enjoy! xx
Ingredients
| 4 skinless chicken breasts |
| 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 tsp. smoked paprika |
| 4 tsp. cumin |
| 1 tsp. salt & pepper |
| 1 tsp. crushed coriander seed |
| 2 tsp. garam masala |
| 2 bunches basil |
| 1 c. pine nuts |
| 1 c. extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 tbsp. lime juice (sub for lemon if it saves a grocery trip) |
| 2 garlic cloves |
| 1 tsp. salt & pepper |
| 1 tbsp. brown rice malt syrup |
| assorted baby root vegetables such as rainbow carrots |
Directions
- 1
- Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line a shallow biscuit tray with baking paper.
- 2
- Scatter the baby carrots over the tray. Use a spoon to drizzle the rice malt over the carrots and then roughly toss them through any excess before scattering the carrots over the tray again.
- 3
- In a small dish add the paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, coriander seeds and garam masala and combine.
- 4
- Rub the tbsp. oil over the chicken breasts.
- 5
- Lightly coat each side of the chicken with the cumin spice mix.
- 6
- Set a griddle pan over the stove and bring to high heat.
- 7
- Place each chicken breast on the hot pan and sear until it starts to blacken and each side has char-grill lines. Remove from the heat and scatter on the oven tray around the carrots.
- 8
- Place the tray in the oven for 15 minutes, until the carrots are roasted and the chicken is cooked fully.
- 9
- While the chicken and carrots are cooking, prepare the basil pesto. Roughly chop the basil and add all ingredients to a blender/food processor. Process until the mixture is chopped finely (as pictured, or slightly further chopped) and set aside for serving.
- 10
- To serve, arrange carrots on plates, top with chicken and a dollop of pesto. Drizzle any pan juices off the tray over each piece of chicken. Serve immediately.
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