By Emanuele Aversa, Jervois Steak House
For the Free Range Chicken Breast
200g free range chicken breast, skin on
50g butter, unsalted
2 sprigs of thyme
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp neutral oil
Salt
- Preheat the oven to 180°. Put an ovenproof pan on the stove over high heat, then take the chicken breast and season it with salt on both sides, skin and flesh. When the pan starts to smoke add the oil, then the chicken, skin side down.
- Turn down the flame to medium-high, and leave the chicken to cook for 3 minutes, then put the pan in the oven for 15 minutes without turning the chicken.
- Remove the pan from the oven and flip the chicken so it is skin side up. Push to the side and on the empty side put the butter, thyme and garlic. This will reduce the temperature of the pan, so put it back on the flame on medium heat and start basting the skin side of the chicken with the butter which will have been infused with the thyme and garlic. Do this for 3 minutes before taking the chicken from the pan. Leave it on a resting rack for 5 minutes before carving.
For the Roast Pumpkin
½ Butternut Squash, seeds removed
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
- Preheat your oven to 160°C. Cut the half butternut squash into 4, in the shape of a quarter moon. Put the pumpkin on an oven tray, season with salt and drizzle with olive oil.
- Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. You should be able to cut through the pumpkin without feeling any resistance. If it’s still hard put back in the oven and check every 5 minutes. Once cooked put aside.
For the Pumpkin Puree
½ butternut squash, seeds removed
100g diced butter, unsalted
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
- Carefully peel the pumpkin half and cut into big, dice-sized pieces. Put onto a tray and season with olive oil and salt. Cover with aluminium foil and cook it in the oven at 160°C for 40 minutes. Once cooked, the pumpkin should have a really soft consistency.
- Put the diced pumpkin into a food processor and as it is starting to blend, add the butter dice by dice. This will create an emulsion with the water inside the pumpkin and the fat of the butter, so you should end up with a silky smooth puree.
For the Toasted Seeds
50g pumpkin seed
50g sunflower seed
Salt
- Put all the seeds on a tray and roast in an oven for 20 minutes at 160°C. Once they have roasted, season them with fine salt while they are still warm.
To Plate
- Cut the chicken in half, lengthwise, and put one side skin side up and once side skin side down on the left of the plate.
- Put a big spoonful of puree in the middle of the plate, and on the right, put a slice of roasted pumpkin. Garnish the roasted pumpkin with the toasted seeds, a fried sage leaf and crushed amaretto biscuit. Serve with red wine jus.
