Chicken/mushroomwatercress salad

Here's a classy salad that makes the perfect lunch bite or a pleasant tea in these warm conditions. It combines the lovely flavour of roast chicken, wild mushrooms with the pepperyness of watercress, the crunch of pine nuts and the sweetness of raisins.

Serves 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, skin on and deboned

2 x 85g bags watercress

1 lemon, cut into quarters

100g mixed wild mushrooms

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

150g stale white bread, cut into squares for croutons

50g pine nuts

25g raisins

1 tbsp honey

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C. Place the chicken in a large baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Add in the lemon quarters and garlic cloves and season well with salt and pepper. Put the tray into the pre-heated oven and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, then remove the garlic cloves before adding in the bread, pine nuts and wild mushrooms. Stir everything together, ensuring that the bread is well coated in the roasting juices, then return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

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Meanwhile mix the honey with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then stir in the raisins and a pinch of salt. Remove the tray of chicken from the oven and leave to rest for a few minutes before slicing the chicken thighs into large chunks. Split the watercress between four bowls and toss through the mushrooms, croutons, lemon, pine nut and raisin mixture before topping with the sliced chicken. Serve and enjoy!

Main photo: Lara Jane Thorpe