Fattoush Salad with Crispy Chicken Thighs
Ingredients:
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
60 ml olive oil
bunch of mint, finely chopped
bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
a few leaves of little gem lettuce into bite-size pieces
1 green onion, finely sliced on the diagonal
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 Roma tomatoes, diced
ripe avocado, diced
salt and pepper to taste
4 chicken thighs
zaatar seasoning
Any type of bread, I used baguette, but ideally, you will use pita crisps
Instructions:
Heat your oven to 190 C.
Zest and juice your lemon, slowly whisk in the olive oil, and add in the herbs. Set aside.
Prepare your lettuce, green onion, cucumber, tomato, and avocado.
Add the spring onion, cucumber, and tomato to the dressing.
Heat your pan to medium heat, and add olive oil. Season the chicken thighs on both sides and put the skin down into the pan. They should be sizzling, but it should feel controlled and not aggressively frying. Also, check that you don’t have too much oil pooled in the pan, as it will cause uneven cooking on the thighs.
Cook the thighs at least until they release from the pan, and then continue cooking until you are happy that they are golden brown. This will take about 8-10 minutes. When the color is nice, sprinkle zaatar on the bottom of the thighs, flip them over, and put them into the heated oven for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.
When done, remove the pan from the oven and place the chicken thighs onto a cutting board or tray to rest. Using the same heated pan, return it to medium heat, and toss your bread of choice in. Sprinkle with more zaatar seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. Toss the bread in the hot oil until it gets brown and crispy.
Assemble the salad by adding the lettuce and crispy bread to the dressing, and toss. Top with avocado, more crispy bread, and the chicken thighs. Enjoy!
