Dukkah Roasted Chicken with Carrot and Pearl Barley Risotto

This is a Christine Manfield recipe for Dukkah Roast Chicken with Carrot and Pearl Barley Risotto that popped up in my email from The Essential Ingredient.

I have cooked Christine's recipes in the past and loved them, so this was a must to try.

We were not disappointed, it really is a stunning dish that has you licking the plate! 

And even better it is easy!

Butterfly your chicken, rub all over with a mix of Ras El Hanout (spice mix), oil, lemon juice and zest, and salt and pepper.

Then bake.

The risotto cooking liquid is made with a combination of chicken stock and carrot juice.

I bought some beautiful pearl barley from Honest to Goodness.

Some beautiful carrots and lemon zest are added to the base of the risotto consisting of softened leek, onion and garlic.

Add the pearl barley, followed by some sherry.

The hot stock is then added and the risotto allowed to simmer away until the liquid is absorbed. For me this took a lot longer then the 30 minutes the recipe suggested, but it was worth the wait!

It is finished with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Once the chicken is cooked drizzle with some sesame oil and sprinkle on the Dukkah.

Serve on your risotto, I added some baked asparagus too, and sprinkled with a mix of parsley, lemon juice, oil and capers. 

We also spooned over some of the delicious cooking juices from the chicken.

We had this for Sunday lunch and it was just perfect.

The flavours were beautiful with the soft sweet carrot risotto and the moist tasty chicken.

It will be gracing our table again very soon.....