The saying goes that Brits love to talk about the weather, and well …..its hot. My local park has given up. There isn't a green blade of grass left in it and it’s gone the colour (and honestly texture) of a digestive biscuit. Meanwhile there are wildfires? Is this the place to scream into the void about climate change, and North Sea drilling? The blood boils.
We got back last week from Portugal, and I came home craving and wanting to cook a chicken parm. I thought of frying chicken cutlets and simmering sauce in 34C, promptly changed course, and this is what came out instead. The elements of chicken parm, reimagined into a fresh, bright celebration of chicken and tomatoes.
Yes, it’s not a chicken parm in the traditional sense. No crumbed, fried, bubbling dish of cheese and tomato, which in this weather may actually be a small mercy.
Go forth and gather tomatoes at their absolute peak, the dark red ones, that are knobbly ones are best. Halve and grate them down on the box grater until you’re left holding a flat piece of skin and the bowl underneath has filled with rich red pulp. Drain it. Salt it. Olive oil, then sherry vinegar a little at a time until there’s a slight tang, and the tomato flavour shines brighter.
Burnished roasted thighs go on top, hot skin crackling, so the fat and the roasting juices run down into all that cold tomato and mingle. Hot on cold, fatty against sour. Sublime.
Peaches next. Ripe and cut chunky so you get a good mouthful rather than a measley sliver, tossed with quartered baby sundrop tomatoes, ribbons of basil, then and more oil, more vinegar. The vinegar isn’t there to make it sour, rather, it’s there to push the sweetness forward. Balance really. Bocconcini tossed through at the end, cold and creamy.
Finally, breadcrumbs, are tipped into the roasting tray while it’s still hot and scraped through everything the chicken left behind. Some of them go crisp and golden. Others catch a bit of reduced juice and turn into chewy, sticky little nubbins, half-crumb, half-caramelised chicken.
Right now, I cant think of a better plate of good mood food.
Happy cooking pals!
Jess x
Juicy roast chicken with crisp skin, sweet tomatoes and peaches, creamy bocconcini and golden chicken-fat breadcrumbs.
Serves 3-4 • Time: 10-15 mins active prep, 40 mins cooking
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