Oven Baked Chicken with Herbed Aioli

03 March 2016

Chicken herbed aioliThis is my basic, go-to grilled chicken perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. You can serve the chicken breast fillets as mains with a salad on the side, topped with cheese on a toasted bun, chopped up in a quesadilla or, as I often do, sliced over a baguette drizzled with some aioli. At first glance, you may think there are too many steps and the list of ingredients is too lengthy. But trust me, the steps are extremely quick. And all of the spices listed were ones I already had in my spice cabinet.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

  • 3 pieces of chicken breasts
  • 1 ½ tsp chilli powder
  • 2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 2 tsp. coriander powder
  • 1 tsp. fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp. ground turmeric
  • 6 olive oil
  • Salt to taste

For the aioli:

  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp garlic finely chopped
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp fresh coriander finely chopped
  • 1 tsp hot sauce
  • Salt & pepper to taste

For the assembly:

  • 10 slices of toasted baguettes
  • 10 toothpicks
  • Parsley to garnish

Instructions:

For the chicken:

  • In a zip pouch combine all the spices with olive oil and then dunk the chicken breasts into the marinade. Let the chicken marinade for half an hour
  • Depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts (and note — be sure to pound them beforehand if needed with a meat mallet so that they are uniformly thick for even cooking), roasting them at 200 degrees celsius should require a cooking time between 15-18 minutes.  It’s speedy and it’s easy.
  • I like to do this because cooking at high heat quickly develops a nice crispier “crust” on the outside of the breasts, which also locks in those juices and keeps the chicken perfectly tender on the inside.
  • And this is where that “patience is a virtue” comes in.  You must let your beautifully baked chicken breast rest before cutting into it.
  • After the chicken breasts have rested, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces

For the Aioli

  • Whisk together all the ingredients for the aioli together in a bowl

For the assembly

  • Place the chicken on the toasted baguette slices, insert the toothpicks
  • Drizzle with aioli, garnish with parsley and serve