Moist free range chicken breast stuffed with roasted eggplant puree and sweet juicy pomegranate seeds, coated in a delicious crunchy sourdough crumb. Served with crispy sweet potato fries, spicy cayenne pepper kale chips and an olive tapenade, made from a delicious combination of green and kalamata olives.
This dish was inspired by the beautiful eggplants in the market at the moment, pairing them with sweet pomegranates, just coming into season, is perfect. The sweet potato chips are delicious on the side with the intense tapenade offering a hit of flavour. The kale is flourishing in our garden and the crispy spice offers another delicious element. I wanted to use common accessible ingredients and produce a beautiful dish that would impress. Chicken is a favourite, and here no one could resist it with the crispy crumb.
INGREDIENTS
Crunchy Chicken Breast
- 1 medium eggplant
- seeds from ½ pomegranate
- 100g stale sourdough bread
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 2 small chicken breasts
- ¼ cup plain flour
- 1 egg white
- salt/pepper
Sweet potato fries
- 200g sweet potato
- 1 egg white
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp mustard
- garlic clove, crushed
Spicy Kale Chips
- Small bunch kale
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Cayenne pepper
Olive tapenade
- ½ cup pitted green olives
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives
- small glove garlic
- ½ lemon juiced
- 1 anchovy
- 1 ½ tbsp macadamia (or olive) oil
DIRECTIONS
Crunchy Chicken Breast
- Cut eggplant in half, lengthwise, and sprinkle over some salt. Leave for 20 minutes.
- Break the sourdough into chunks and place in Kambrook Power Drive Direct food processor (blade attachment). Pulse until a textured crumb is formed.
- Add ½ tbsp olive oil, the leaves from the sprig of thyme and a sprinkle of salt.
- Pulse again and set aside for later.
- Wipe the eggplants with a paper towel and cook in the Kambrook Air Chef air fryer cut side up for 20 mins at 200°C.
- Allow to cool, scoop the flesh into a bowl and drain any liquid that forms away.
- Puree the eggplant in the Kambrook Power Drive Direct blender with a pinch of salt and grind of pepper.
- Transfer to bowl and add the seeds from the pomegranate.
- Preheat the Kambrook Air Chef air fryer to 180°C for 5 mins.
- Carefully slice the chicken breasts length ways to create a pocket. Fill with the eggplant mix.
- Coat the entire breasts lightly in some flour.
- Whisk the egg white with a pinch of salt and gently coat the entire breasts.
- Press the sourdough crumbs all over the breasts then transfer to the air fryer, cook for 25 minutes.
- Remove from fryer and rest for at least 10-15 minutes before slicing to serve.
Sweet potato fries
- Preheat Kambrook Air Chef air fryer for 5 mins at 200°C (or cook as soon as the chicken is finished).
- Whisk together egg white, salt, mustard and garlic.
- Cut the sweet potato into chips and toss with the egg white mixture.
- Cook in the air fryer for 15 minutes at 200°C, giving them three good shakes in the first five minutes and then once or twice again after.
Spicy Kale Chips
- Preheat Kambrook Air Chef air fryer to 180°C for 5 minutes.
- Tear the kale leaves from the stems.
- Toss with a drizzle of oil, pinch of salt and shake of cayenne pepper.
- Cook in the air fryer for 5 minutes.
Olive tapenade
- Pulse the olives in the Kambrook Blitz 2 Go.
- Add the lemon juice, garlic and anchovy, pulse again.
- Add 1 tbsp oil, pulse, add the remaining oil, pulse again.
Recipes created and shared by Dianne Sylvester From NSW
Champion Winner for Summer School Cooking Challenge 2015