Succulent Roast Chicken With Young Leaf Greens

Indulge in the exquisite flavours of succulent roast chicken paired with vibrant young leafy greens or a micro salad. Add in some avo, sugar snap peas or mange tout, fresh mint, and a delicious poppy seed dressing.

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

1 whole chicken

1 lemon

Fresh thyme 

Garlic clove

1-2 onions

1 large carrot

Salad and dressing:

1 lemon

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

½-1 clove minced garlic

2 tbsp toasted poppy seeds

150ml extra virgin olive oil

Herbamare or other salt

1 large avo

200g sugar snap peas or mange tout

1 bunch spring onions

2-4 large handfuls of microsalad, young leafy greens or salad of your choice

Method:

For the chicken: 

1. Cut slices into the whole lemon and put it inside the chicken.

2. Add fresh thyme and garlic. 

3. Peel and cut the 1-2 onions and the carrot into large chunks and place them around the chicken in the roasting casserole dish. 

4. Roast in the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 90 minutes. 

Salad:

1. Cut a large avo into slices.
2. Add 200g sugar snap peas or mange tout cut lengthwise.
3. Mix in a bunch of thinly sliced spring onions.
4. Add 2-4 large handfuls of micro salad or young leaf salad or use any other lettuce of your choice. 

Salad dressing:

Whisk together or put in a leak-proof bottle and shake: the juice of 1 lemon, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard, 1 clove garlic – minced, 2 tbsp toasted poppy seeds, 150ml extra virgin olive oil, Herbamare or other salt according to taste.

Why make this recipe?

This meal is full of flavour and colour from nature.  It is a great way to fill your tummy and satisfy your taste buds, while keeping your blood sugar stable. Stable blood sugar can help  you have sustained energy, a better mood, boost your lean muscle mass and your brain power all at the same time.

On top of that, this meal is loaded with fibre that will feed your healthy gut microbiota and micronutrients to nourish every cell in your body together with all the wonderful benefits that come with a daily dose of greens. .   

Time saver tip:

You can use what is left of the chicken in a salad or a wrap the next day.

Then freeze the remains, including the bones, onions and carrots plus any juices left over in the casserole.  Keep this in the freezer until you have 2-3 of them and then make your own chicken stock or even a chicken soup from it.