Roast chicken and pumpkin, black lentils and hazelnut picada
Great colours: orange pumpkin, black lentils, tawny hazelnuts, golden chicken skin. Picada is a Spanish mixture – usually of breadcrumbs, nuts, garlic, herbs and a little liquid – added to a dish towards the end of cooking to thicken it. But lately picadas have also been used as a finely chopped mixture of ingredients thrown over a dish at the end to heighten and freshen flavours.
Ingrediënten
FOR THE CHICKEN
- 1.8 kg 4lb chicken
- salt and pepper
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 8 tbsp Amontillado sherry
- 1 kg 2lb 4oz Crown Prince or butternut squash, cut into wedges, peeled and deseeded
- 225 g 8oz black lentils
- ½ small onion left in one piece
- 1 celery stick halved
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- juice of ½ lemon
FOR THE PICADA
- 100 ml 3½fl oz olive oil
- 30 g 1oz chewy peasant-style bread, sliced 1cm (½in) thick
- 40 g 1½oz skin-on hazelnuts
- zest from ½ orange removed with a zester, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp amontillado sherry
Instructies
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Put the chicken into a roasting tin and season it inside and out.
- Drizzle with 2 tbsp of the regular oil.
- Now pour on 4 tbsp of the sherry, both inside and over the top, too.
- Roast for 1 hour 20 minutes, basting.
- Put the squash into a roasting tin.
- Add the rest of the regular oil and season, then turn it over.
- Drizzle with 2 tbsp of the sherry.
- Put into the oven after the chicken has been in for 55 minutes (the squash needs to cook for 40 minutes).
- Allow the chicken to rest for 15 minutes while the pumpkin finishes cooking; it should be tender and caramelized at the edges.
- Meanwhile, put the lentils in a pan with the onion, celery, garlic, bay and thyme and cover with water.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15–30 minutes, until tender.
- Keep an eye on them as you do not want mush!
- Drain and remove the onion, celery, garlic and herbs (if you can find the garlic).
- Stir in the virgin oil and lemon juice.
- Season well.
- Cover and keep warm.
- (Lentils are fine lukewarm in this dish.
- )
- To make the picada, pour the oil into a small frying pan and set over a medium-low heat.
- Dip a piece of bread in the oil; if it sizzles a bit, reduce the heat slightly and add the bread in a single layer.
- Fry, turning, until it is a pale caramel colour on both sides.
- Spread out on kitchen paper and leave to cool.
- Toast the nuts in a dry frying pan, stirring, until they give off a nutty smell.
- Rub in a tea towel while warm to remove skins, then roughly chop.
- Break the bread into chunks, put in a bag and crush to coarse crumbs with a rolling pin.
- Finely chop the rest of the ingredients and mix with the vinegar and sherry.
- Put the lentils and pumpkin on a large platter with the chicken.
- Drizzle the chicken with the remaining 2 tbsp of sherry, scatter on the picada and serve.
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