Spicy Summer Chicken with a Mango & Feta Salad

 

 

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Autumn is starting to roll in and it’s making me nostalgic already for the lovely summer we’ve just had. And whilst I’m starting already to crave soup and bread and all manner of hearty, or cinnamon-spicy things I find myself harking back to some of my favourite summer dishes as I look over my camera roll on my phone. I have been the most horrendously absent food blogger this past three months but it isn’t that I’ve abandoned my kitchen, I’ve just been less attentive with the writing up of my culinary creations. Ergo this little gem of a recipe slipped through the net.

 

I ate a variation of this for my birthday lunch and since then I’ve been a little besotted with the sweet, salty and spicy combination; with its melee of textures and flavours. It’s an incredibly easy dish and the only thing that really takes time is the marinating of the chicken and even that’s just dependant on how long you plan on letting it marinate for. I try and go for doing it the night before  but, if you’re short on time, an hour or so is fine.

 

What’s been your “taste of summer” this year?

 

Recipe;

 

8 chicken legs

6 chilli peppers

5 spring onions

3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

6 tbsp clear honey

Juice of a lime

Fresh coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Salad;

 

1 large mango

Feta cheese

Romaine lettuce

Balsamic glaze

 

  1. Chop up your chillies and pop into a mortar with the coriander, crushed garlic and spring onions and half the lime juice lime juice. Use your pestle and bash everything up – this should release all the favours and the smell will be incredible!
  2. Add the contents of the mortar to your honey and stir in the rest of the lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Score the skin of your chicken lightly and massage in the marinade. Refrigerate over-night.
  4. Preheat oven to 160, cover the chicken with tin foil and cook for 20-25 minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven, remove the foil and drizzle with a little of honey before turning up the oven to 200 and popping back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
  5. The chicken should be sticky and crisp when you take out of the oven.
  6. Chop up the lettuce, thinly slide the mango (a potato peeler does this beautifully) and crumble over some feta cheese. Drizzle on the balsamic glaze and top with your chicken hot or cold. A squeeze of fresh lime wouldn’t go amiss here either then — enjoy!