I’ve just come up with a FlavourSmash meal tonight and myself and Siobhan are BLOWN AWAY by how good it tastes! It’s influenced by Italian tastes, but where as they might stick a load of pasta or potatoes in there we’ve substituted them with an Italian influenced stir-fry. It wasn’t the cheapest smash I’ve put together, but easily one of the most balanced flavour-wise.

Over the last couple of day’s I’ve tried to cook FlavourSmash style for a couple of my friends, but have ended up creating something with far too much going on with the flavours, too spicy hot, too tangy - not everyone can take it as intense as me, so when I’m cooking for friends I have to have a bit more control and restraint over the composition of the dish. I had to pull it back tonight or I’d be starting to lose faith in my concept… I think I’ve pulled it off… big time.

I’ll have to make this again when I’ve got my proper camera with me, but the below pic gives you the idea. You can tell by Siobhan’s face how much she loved it!

For the red veg:
Load up a roasting tin with vine ripened tomatoes (cut in two horizontally), sweet pointed peppers (cut length-ways) and crushed garlic cloves, just chuck it all in, you can even leave the skin on the garlic. A tiny drizzle of extra virgin will get it all going. Stick it in the oven for 30 mins on 190 °C.

For the marinade:
Genovese Pesto 5 tablespoons, Kalamtra Olive Tapenade 1 tablespoon, Green Peppercorns 1  tablespoon. Roughly mix it all up and you’re ready to go. Get your chicken and make little slashes all over both sides with a sharp knife. Use a teaspoon to force the marinade into all the grooves you’ve just created in the chicken. Leave for at least 20 mins.

For the stir-fry:
Half a savoy cabbage shredded, 1 leek julienne-style, 200g fresh basil, 100g dried porcini. 1 clove of garlic. Soak the porcini in warm water for 30 minutes (do this at the same time as putting the roasting veg in). Simply stir-fry all the ingredients in a hot wok for 5-7 mins. I also poured in a dash of cider vinegar and the liquid the mushrooms were soaking in. It added a bit of extra depth to the green veg side of things.

Method:
Pan fry the chicken in a pan with a little olive oil over a medium heat, 8 mins each side will do it. Put any excess marinade in the pan at the end and cook through to create a little sauce.

Pour the sauce over the meat, place the stir-fry on one side of the plate and load up the roasted pepper and tomatoes on the other (squeeze the contents of the roasted garlic all over the plate too for extra tasty garlicky pungency), top off with a sprig of fresh basil and savour the subtle intensity of this sublime dish.

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