When we were kids Saturday nights for us consisted of all the fun stuff that we didn’t normally have for dinner, like cereal or scrambled eggs on toast or ‘oven food’ ie stuff cooked from frozen like oven chips, fish fingers or chicken nuggets with spaghetti hoops.
Now that I’m grown up (allegedly) comfort food has taken a slightly different turn with things like warming Thai soups, aubergines smothered in miso and sesame and spicy chilli con carne. The one thing that I miss though is chicken nuggets and chips. Very (very) occasionally I will give in to the lure of those golden arches and eat the horribly processed, deep-fried fast food nuggets but we’ve been thinking recently about healthy food for kids (nope, I’m not pregnant, just forward planning) and so this recipe was formed.
They’re high in protein, gluten-free, dairy-free and grain-free so suitable for coeliacs, those with dairy allergies and anyone following a paleo or low FODMAP diet. I don’t actually follow any of these diets but the recipe turned out this way and the more people that can eat delicious food the better!
Serves: 2 people
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 x chicken breasts
1 egg
200g ground almonds
100g sesame seeds
good pinch each of salt & pepper
1 tsp oil of your choice (I like olive oil)
Method:
Chop the chicken breasts into nugget-sized chunks
Combine the ground almonds, sesame seeds, salt and pepper in a shallow dish
Cover chicken with beaten egg, allow to soak for 5 minutes
Remove individual pieces of chicken from the egg mixture and turn in the ground almond mixture, coating all sides
Lay nuggets in a single layer on a greased baking tray and drizzle the remaining oil over the top
Bake at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top
Serve with homemade white or sweet potato chips, salad and a big spoonful of creamy homemade guacamole for the full experience or just salad for a lighter meal.
The best thing is that you can set up an assembly line and cook loads of these nuggets then freeze them into portions to be defrosted and reheated whenever you want some comfort. Long live oven food!