Greek Chicken with Herby Couscous & "Tzatziki"

First Nigella, now Jamie Oliver.. on a bit of a spree at the moment of trying out cookbook (read cooking site) recipes. If it can be called a spree.

I would love to say that this was 100% great. However I can’t.. and that’s not Jamie’s fault by any means. I honestly don’t know what was wrong with me. After we’d finished eating (and very tasty it was too), the bf asked me why there was a pan of cold, cooked peas sitting in the sink. I was quite annoyed with myself. Approximately two minutes later I came across the packet of barrel-aged feta. “Are you drunk?” the bf asked me.

I’m sure they both would have made mighty fine additions to the meal, so I’ve left them in the recipe (and at the bottom you can see how it looked when I added the peas and feta for the next days lunch box)..

As a side note, the original recipe also calls for cucumber in the tzatziki. It being, you know, tzatziki and all that. I however have a deep rooted and utterly pathological dislike for cucumber so left it out and just upped the mint a little. The original recipe however can be found here.


Greek Chicken with Herby Couscous & Tzatziki
Serves 3

For the couscous
225g of couscous
2 chargrilled red peppers from a jar, chopped
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely sliced
½ a bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped
115g frozen peas, blanched in boiling water for a few minutes
1 small handful of decent black olives, destoned and roughly chopped
1tbsp olive oil
30g feta cheese
juice of 1 lemon

For the chicken
2 x 200 g skinless chicken breasts
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground allspice
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil

For the “tzatziki”
150g 0% Greek Yoghurt
½ a lemon, juiced

½ a bunch of fresh mint, top leafy part only, finely chopped

Put the couscous and double the volume of boiling water into a bowl with a pinch of salt and cover.

On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with salt, pepper, the oregano, allspice and finely grated lemon zest.

Fold over the paper, then bash the chicken with a rolling pin (or meat mallet I suppose) until flattened to 1.5cm thick.

Meanwhile put the yoghurt in a bowl with the juice of ½ a lemon and a pinch of pepper - finely chop the top leafy half of the mint and add that then mix together.

Put the olive oil into a frying pan over a medium heat and when heated add the chicken, turning after 3 or 4 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

Fluff up the couscous and mix the chilli, red pepper, spring onions, peas, olives, dill, lemon juice and olive oil through it then season well to taste, divide and scatter over two plates.

Slice the chicken up and arrange over the couscous.

Crumble over the feta and serve with the tzatziki.

And of course how it should have looked (kind of - imagine spread over a plate)!