Bright colours make food more appealing don’t you think? This glorious bright pink, red, green and gold warm chicken ciabatta salad looks amazing on the plate and is one of our favourites. Perfect for those evenings you want to eat light but don’t want a cold salad.

warm chicken ciabatta salad

• 1 kg Ritchies boneless chicken thigh fillets, cut into chunks
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ white sourdough or ciabatta loaf, torn into rough chunks
• 3 medium garlic cloves, crushed
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

for the quick pickled cabbage

• ¼ small red cabbage, stalk removed and finely sliced
• 1 small red onion or 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried dill)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

salad

• 100g mixed salad leaves, washed
• ½ cup flat leaved parsley leaves
• a few dill fronds (optional)
• seeds from half a pomegranate (optional)

warm chicken ciabatta salad method

Preheat oven to 180^oC. Drizzle the chicken with 2 tablespoons olive oil, season generously and place in a roasting pan. Bake for about 15 minutes or until just turning white.

Toss the ciabatta in the remaining oil with the crushed garlic, and add to the top of the pan with the chicken underneath. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, turning the bread occasionally on top until its toasted golden and the chicken is cooked through and caramelised. Toss the bread and chicken well in the pan to pick up all the roasted chicken flavour and pan juices.

While the chicken is cooking, add the red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and dill to a medium nonreactive pan on medium heat and bring to a fast simmer. Stir in the red onion and red cabbage and cook for long enough to be just starting to collapse but still crunchy (about 3-4 minutes). Drain and reserve the flavoured wine vinegar.

Using a large flat serving plate, assemble the salad. Layer up the salad leaves, parsley, pickled cabbage and onion. Leave some cabbage shreds to decorate the top. Scatter the baked chicken and toasted ciabatta on top, and spoon over any remaining pan juices. Top with the reserved cabbage and pomegranate seeds, check seasoning and drizzle very lightly with a tablespoon or two of the flavoured pickling vinegar. Serve immediately while everything is still slightly warm.

Serves 4. Preparation time 10 minutes. Cooking time 50 minutes