Almond Black Garlic Vinaigrette

1. Drain the almonds
2. Add to high-speed blender with all the rest of the dressing ingredients
3. Blend until creamy

Roast Black Garlic Chicken, Tomatoes and Bread Croutons

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C/400F
2. Slice Black Garlic butter.
3. Carefully lift the skin of the chicken breast off the meat, sliding your hands under it (I usually do this from the neck side, as the skin doesn’t rip as easy there.
4. Stuff 2 slices of garlic butter under the skin of each breast
5. Stuff rosemary and the juiced and zested lemon halves into the chicken cavity
6. Smear most of the remaining butter all over the chicken and put it into an oven proof tin, larger than the chicken, so you can add the tomatoes halfway through the roasting
7. After the chicken was in the oven for about 30min, take it out, tumble the tomatoes around it and swish in the juices a little.
8. Add the rest of the garlic bulb, to have roast garlic later
9. Once your chicken is beautiful golden brown and the juices run clear when cutting into the thickest part of the leg, take it out of the roasting tin on a plate and loosely cover with foil to rest.
10. Depending on how your garlic bulb looks, you may want to take it out too at this point. If you see bit of golden brown on top of the cut parts, it’s ready
11. Meanwhile, toss the bread pieces into the tin with the tomatoes and carefully turn them in the chicken-tomato juices, so they are evenly coated.
12. Add back to the oven for another 10-15minutes, until the bread pieces are lightly golden brown on the tips. The goal is, to have the tops slightly crispy and the bottoms soak up most of the juices, but not burn bread or tomatoes. So, keep a close eye on them while you assemble your salad.

The Salad

1. Marinate the sliced onion in the juice of 1 lemon, sprinkled with a bit of salt. It will go pretty and pink during the marinating and lose some of its sharpness.
2. Cook sweetcorn for 10-15 minutes. Let it cool for a bit, then slice the kernels off the cobs with a sharp knife
3. Blanch Broccoli florets for 3 minutes, then plunge into iced water
4. Thinly slice garlic cloves and gently fry in olive oil until golden. Add salt, juice of 1 lemon and (if using) red pepper to oil. Leave to cool for a bit
5. Drizzle the fragrant oil and garlic over your blanched broccoli and leave to stand for a while to marinate
6. While the bread is in the oven and the chicken resting, assemble the salad
7. Lay a bed of romaine into the bowl (or each plate).
8. Top with sliced radishes.
9. Drizzle with some of the Black Garlic Vinaigrette and toss thoroughly until all the leaves have a thin coating.
10. Top with some of the sweetcorn, broccoli florets and peach slices.

Assemble

1. Now carve your chicken into bite sized pieces
2. Take the tin with bread croutons and tomatoes out of the oven.
3. Spread crunchy croutons and juicy tomatoes over your salad
4. Top with chicken pieces, some onion rings and creamy goats’ cheese.
5. If you like, squish some roasted garlic out of its papery skin onto the chicken and the bread
6. Drizzle with a little more of the vinaigrette and any of the delicious buttery chicken juices that might be left in the roasting tin
7. Enjoy all the juicy, flavourful layers, knowing you are eating really healthy. Doesn’t feel like it, does it? More like an indulgent feast. That’s what I’m here for.