Roasted Chicken
with Smoked Pancetta and Herbed Lentils
If this dish were a place, it would be a rustic little cottage somewhere in the Provencal countryside. Puy lentils are often overlooked in favour of more conventional accompaniments, but when teamed up with smoked pancetta and fresh herbs, they make the perfect bed for your crispy roasted chicken. If you happen to have a bottle of something Provencal in the wine rack then all the better. Bon appétit!
The quantities provided above are averages only.
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
Ingredients
8
British Chicken Thighs
5
Thyme
1
Carrot
½
Onion
2
Celery Stick
(Contains: Celery)
3
Green Beans
4
Flat Leaf Parsley
2
Organic Lentils
⅔
British Smoked Bacon Lardons
1
Bay Leaf
½
Creme Fraiche
(Contains: Milk)
Utensils
Cooking Instructions and Tips
Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees. LH: Pat the chicken skin dry with some kitchen towel and rub ¼ tsp of olive oil on each thigh. Rub in a good pinch of salt and pepper and sprinkle over the leaves from 1 sprig of thyme. Cook them in the oven on the top shelf for 25 mins until the skin is nice and crispy. Rest them out of the oven afterwards.
Peel the carrot and finely dice it. Finely dice the onion and the celery. Remove the ends from your green beans (i.e. top and tail them). Finely chop the parsley and drain and rinse the puy lentils.
Add a tsp of oil to a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, cook the pancetta until it is crispy around the edges. Remove the pancetta from the pan and keep it to the side for later.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the non-stick pan on medium-low heat. Cook off the onion, celery and carrot, bay leaf and a couple of sprigs of thyme. After about 5 mins they should be nice and soft. Now boil a pot of water with a ¼ tsp of salt for the green beans.
Add the pancetta and the puy lentils to the pan with the cooked vegetables. Toss the ingredients together and season with a couple of pinches of salt and pepper. Turn off the heat. Tip: Taste the mixture and add more salt and pepper if you need to.
Cook the green beans for a minute in the boiling water. Drain them and then immediately run them under cold water. Tip: This is to stop them cooking (i.e. ‘refresh’ them).
LH: Once the chicken is ready, toss the fresh parsley and the green beans into the lentils together with the crème fraîche. Serve with the chicken on top.
