Enjoyed by almost everyone, the chicken is one of the easiest yet also one of the most deceptive ingredients to prepare and cook. A few minutes too long on the grill and you will get meat that is too tough and rubbery. A few minutes too short and the chicken will still be undercooked. 

Fortunately, it is relatively simple to check. All you need to do is to cut the chicken into half with a knife to see whether the centre is still pink. Of course, pink means back into the oven it goes!
Personal fine dining chef Tim Meijers, who runs his own fine dining catering business, has kindly shared his personal take on the ubiquitous chicken. He enjoys complementing the chicken with garlic and thyme. To make the plating more interesting, he also recommends adding colourful, contrasting vegetables such as carrots and corn to make it more attractive to your children.

We hope you have fun with this recipe. Do share your chicken creations with us on our Facebook page at www.fb.com/familyandlifemag!  

Ingredients

Materials

Measuring cup, spatula, convection oven, frying pan, knife, deep tray, chopping board, spoon, blender, peeler, cooking pot, flat plate.

Preparations

Chicken

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees and carefully cut the chicken into half.
2. Cut the garlic in half and take the thyme leaves from the stem.
3. Season the chicken on the inside.
4. Add the garlic and thyme in a nice straight line in one half of the chicken and lay the second half on top.
5. Lay the chicken on top of an unrolled bacon and roll the chicken in the bacon (the bacon should be keeping the chicken together, so roll it tight!)
6. Add butter to the frying pan before heating it up.
7. Once the butter has turned brown and stopped bubbling, then add the chicken in.
8. Grill the chicken until the outside turns a nice brown colour before taking it out and cooking it in the oven for about 35 minutes.
9. After the chicken is cooked in the oven, take it out and let it rest for six minutes before slicing it.

Corn Sauce

1. Boil a pot of water and cook the corn for at least 20 minutes.
2. After the corn is cooked, cool it down in ice water.
3. Slice the corn, put a quarter aside and blend the remaining in the blender with the milk and cream.

Baby Carrots

1. Peel the baby carrots and boil them with a bit of salt in water
2. Cool them in ice water and make sure they keep that nice crunch