Recipe of the day: Smoked chicken breast with oven dried tomatoes, straw potatoes & béarnaise

It can be tricky to make chicken breasts exciting when you are not using them in a Chicken a la King or stir-fry, and usually when just grilled, chicken breasts tend to be a little dry if overcooked.

TV chef and food alchemist, Peter Goffe-Wood, shares a delicious smoked chicken breast with oven dried tomatoes, straw potatoes and béarnaise sauce recipe.

This dish pairs perfectly with a glass of Rooderberg Black.

Smoked chicken breast with oven dried tomatoes, straw potatoes & béarnaise

Spice up your chicken breasts with this delicious recipe from TV chef and food alchemist Peter Goffe-Wood.

• Author: Peter Goffe-Wood
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hour
• Yield: 2 1x
• Category: Lunch, Dinner, Chicken
• Method: Frying
• Cuisine: French

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 6 chicken breasts, skin on
• 1L water
• ½ cup sea salt
• ½ cup soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lemon cut into quarters
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 100ml olive oil
• 100g smoking chips, soaked in water

Instructions

1. Put all the brine ingredients into a pot and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
2. Place the chicken breasts into the cooled brine and leave for 90 mins.
3. Remove the breasts from the brine and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Build a medium size fire in the centre of a Weber. Place the soaked wood chips on top of the hot coals.
5. Then place the chicken breasts, skin side up on a grid over hot coals and cover with the lid. Cook covered for 15 mins before turning the chicken over to crisp up the skin. Cook for a further 10 mins, then remove from the braai and leave to rest for 5 min.
6. Slice the smoked breast in half and serve together with the oven dried tomatoes and straw potatoes. Liberally pour over the béarnaise.

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Straw potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 potatoes, peeled
• Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Cut potatoes on a slicer into straw potatoes. Rinse thoroughly in cold water, drain and deep fry until golden brown. Drain the oil and season with salt.

Béarnaise sauce to serve with chicken breasts

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks
• 150g butter
• 100ml white wine
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 10g tarragon, roughly chopped (if you can’t find fresh tarragon use 1tsp dried tarragon and chopped flat parsley for garnish).

Method

• Melt the butter.
• Add the egg yolks, white wine and vinegar (add the dried tarragon here if using) together in a glass or stainless-steel bowl and cook slowly over a double boiler. Whisk continually, until the eggs are light, fluffy and straw coloured and the mixture is at ribbon stage.
• Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the melted butter.
• Season with salt and pepper and add the chopped tarragon or parsley.

Oven dried tomatoes

Ingredients

• 6 tomatoes
• Salt, pepper, sugar, and extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Cut the tomatoes in half, through the middle. Place the tomatoes, cut side up on rack, season with the salt, pepper and sugar and drizzle with the olive oil.
2. Put the tray or rack in a low oven approximately 120°C for about 2 hours or until the tomatoes are properly dried.

*This recipe was developed by TV chef and food alchemist Peter Goffe-Wood and is courtesy of Roodeberg

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