Baked Za’atar & Lemon Chicken (Gluten-Free)
A delicious Gluten-Free dinner featuring baked chicken, a colourful salad and tzatziki, this simple baked za'atar and lemon chicken is a nutritious and satisfying meal.
Introduction
A vibrantly coloured and satisfying salad, rich in texture and flavour. Perfect for barbeques and buffets.
Ingredients
| 4 | large skinless boneless chicken breasts |
| 1 | lemon, juice |
| 2 tbsp | light olive oil |
| 2 tsp | ground cumin |
| 2 tsp | smoked paprika |
| 2 | garlic cloves, crushed |
| 500g | brown basmati rice |
| 1 | red onion, sliced thinly |
| 400g | tinned chickpeas, drained |
| 50g | pistachio nuts, roasted until golden |
| 300g | courgettes, coarsely grated |
| 1 | pomegranate, halved |
| 2 tbsp | za'atar, to garnish |
| 2 | lemons, juice |
| 2 tsp | ground cumin |
| 4 tbsp | extra virgin olive oil |
| salt and black pepper | |
| 4 heaped tbsp | thick Greek yoghurt |
| 2 | garlic cloves, crushed |
| 1 | small cucumber, coarsely grated |
| 2 tsp | lemon juice |
| salt and freshly ground black peper |
Method
1. First cook the brown rice for the salad, then cool under cold running water. Set aside.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients together in an ovenproof dish. Coat the chicken breasts in the marinade, cover and chill for 1–2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, mix the lemon and cumin dressing ingredients together and stir in the red onion. Cover and leave to marinate for 1 hour.
4. To make the tzatziki, mix the yoghurt, garlic, cucumber and lemon juice together. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill.
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
5. To make the rice salad, pour the cooked and cooled brown rice into a large serving dish, and stir in the chickpeas, pistachio nuts and courgette.
6. Remove the seeds from the pomegranate over a bowl, to catch any juice. Discard any membrane, and stir the seeds and juice into the rice salad.
7. Bake the chicken together with its marinade in the oven for 25 minutes until cooked through. Leave to cool in the hot marinade.
8. To finish the rice salad, stir in the marinated onion with its lemon and cumin dressing and half the cooked and cooled marinade. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed and spoon into a serving dish. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the za’atar.
9. To serve, thickly slice the chicken and arrange on top of the rice salad, then sprinkle with the remaining za’atar. Serve with tzatziki and the remaining cooled marinade from the chicken.
