Recipe: Preserved Lemon & Coriander Chicken with Fruit & Nut Cous Cous

Todays recipe is inspired by a tasting event I went to a couple of weeks ago with the Women’s Tennis Association.

Each year the WTA hold a pre-Wimbledon party at the Roof Gardens in Kensington. Guests tuck into all sorts of delicious canapes and specially chosen wines. Being just a few days before the tournament starts the Tennis players invited are watching their diets, so the WTA Nutrition team and the Chefs at the Roof Gardens put a lot of effort into creating a menu for the players that feels indulgent, while still meeting their nutritional needs.

Last year I was invited along to a tasting event, and this year they held another. I find the event absolutely fascinating. The chance to talk to Sports Nutritionists about the diets of such high level athletes is one not to be missed, plus the food is delicious and the Roof Gardens are beautiful.

This year, instead of just telling you about the event, I have instead created my very own recipe inspired by one of the dishes we tried.

Marinated and baked chicken with preserved lemon and coriander on a golden raisin and nut cous cous looks like this when created by the team at The Roof Gardens.

The chef told us the chicken was marinated in the flesh of the preserved lemons and coriander overnight, before being served on cous with golden raisins and nuts and garnished with olive oil, 40 year old balsamic vinegar and the peel of the preserved lemons.

I can already tell you that my recreation does not look like this. I do not have the plating skills of a professional kitchen. It was so delicious that I attempted to recreate the recipe based on what the chef had told us, and my final attempt was pretty darn good and super healthy.

Ingredients

Serves 2

For the Chicken

2 Chicken Breasts
4 Preserved Lemons
5g Fresh Coriander

For the Cous Cous

100g Cous Cous
1 chicken stock cube
30g Raisins or Sultanas
15g Pistachios
15g Walnut pieces
Skin of 2 Preserved lemons

Method

Cut the preserved lemons in half and scrape the flesh and juice into a bowl.

Chop the Coriander and mix with the lemon flesh.

Put the chicken breasts in the bowl, mix well, cover and marinade overnight.

Once the chicken is marinated pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Place the chicken on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.

Once the chicken has been in the oven for about 20 minutes heat a dry frying pan over a medium high heat.

Once hot add the pistachios and walnuts and toast for 2-3 minutes.

Boil a kettle and add the stock cube to approx 200ml boiling water in a large bowl.

Add the cous cous, cover, and leave for 5 minutes.

Chop the reserved skin of 2 of the preserved lemons finely.

When the cous cous is ready mix in the raisins, preserved lemon peel and toasted nuts.

Serve the cous cous on a plate with the baked chicken on top and garnish with slices of preserved lemon peel and coriander.

Wimbledon starts on Monday 3rd July and runs through to 15th July.