This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
I love this Chicken, Avocado, Red Camargue and Wild Rice Salad, as it is chewy, crunchy, creamy and totally delicious. The recipe is from the Jane Lovett kitchen. I really enjoy Jane’s style of cooking as with this recipe she advises that you can add or substitute anything you have to hand.
Ingredients: serves 6
- 250g Red Camargue & Wild Rice
- Salt & freshly ground pepper
- 4 sticks of celery, strings removed & very thinly sliced at a deep diagonal angle
- 6 x chicken thigh fillets (boneless and skinless)
- olive oil
- 1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, halved & diced in their skins
- 4 spring onions, thinly sliced diagonally or ½ a small red onion sliced very thinly
- 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds toasted
- handful of coriander, parsley, or mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 – 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds
- nigella seeds, for sprinkling
- sea salt flakes.
- Greek yoghurt, seasoned for serving
Dressing:
- ½ tsp pouring salt
- 1 small clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp wine vinegar
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
How to prepare:
Bring the rice to the boil in a large pan of well-salted water and cook according to the packet instructions, or for roughly 30 minutes, until just tender but still a little chewy with some bite. Drain, rinse, and cool under cold water and tip into a bowl lined with kitchen paper to remove all the excess liquid. Remove the towel, scraping off any grains that have stuck.
If slicing the celery in advance store in a bowl of water in the fridge. Drain and completely dry on kitchen towel when required.
Heat a large frying pan until very hot. Make a small snip on both sides of the chicken thighs to stop them curling, rub with a little olive oil and pouring salt and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until cooked and golden. This will depend on the thickness of the fillets. Rest for 5 minutes, then slice into diagonal strips. (If not using straight away, allow to cool, slice and reform thighs to prevent drying out. Cover with cling film until needed)
Mix all the dressing ingredients together and whisk (or shake) to form an emulsion. Set aside.
An hour or so before serving stir a little olive oil and some seasoning into the rice and spread over the bottom of a large platter. Scatter over the celery. Arrange the chicken on top, followed by the avocado, the onion, and the pumpkin seeds. Just before serving spoon over the dressing and any juices from the chicken, and scatter with the herbs, pomegranate and nigella seeds and some sea salt. Serve with a leafy green salad and a bowl of seasoned Greek yoghurt.
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For more recipes from Jane Lovett click HERE
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