SERVES 4-5
READY IN: 40 MINUTES
PREP TIME: 20 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 30 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS
CHICKEN
4 boneless chicken breasts (skin on)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
30g softened butter
BUTTERNUT AND SPINACH
800-900g butternut (skin on), cut in half lengthways and cut into 1 cm-thick slices
1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
4-5 cups baby spinach leaves or chopped spinach
MUSHROOM SAUCE
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
250g button mushrooms, stalks removed and quartered
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ cup cream
juice of ½ lemon
METHOD
PREHEAT oven to 200°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
1 Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Mix garlic, thyme and butter together. Divide flavoured butter into four and push under the skin of each chicken breast, distributing the butter evenly by squishing it around with your fingers.
2 Season chicken breasts with salt. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large fry-pan on medium heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and cook for 3 minutes or until skin is golden brown. Flip breasts over and transfer to a roasting dish (but don’t wash the pan).
3 Lay butternut pieces on prepared oven tray and drizzle over maple syrup or honey and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast chicken and butternut in oven for about 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (when the juices from the chicken run clear when pierced with a knife) and butternut is soft and slightly caramelised. Remove chicken from oven and leave to rest in roasting dish while you make the sauce.
4 Place the same fry-pan you cooked the chicken in back on medium heat. Add wine to hot pan and use a wooden spoon to rub the bottom of the pan to release pan brownings into the liquid while the wine bubbles away. Add olive oil and cook onion until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce, cream and lemon juice. Simmer sauce for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened (it will thicken more as it cools).
5 Wash spinach and shake off excess water. Scatter spinach on top of butternut and return to oven until spinach has wilted, 2-3 minutes.
TO SERVE divide butternut and spinach between plates, top with a chicken breast and spoon over sauce.
The Carousel thanks Nadia Lim for this recipe from her new cookbook Easy Weeknight Meals. Nadia Lim is the Head Chef and Dietitian at My Food Bag, a home delivery service that offers the convenience of nutritionally-balanced, seasonal recipes with fresh, free-range and locally sourced ingredients delivered straight to the door.
