' APPLE WOOD SMOKED CHICKEN .'

Apple wood smoked Chicken , Fava bean puree , Granny Smith apple , Radicchio , Mustard green , Creme fraiche , Sesame crumble , Cinnamon myrtle flowers and Jasmine petals.

     
          This dish came about by a late spring clean, sorting through some boxes I found a container of apple wood chips I had purchased a good 2 or so years ago at a camping store up the road. The chips came in 4 or 5 different smoke flavours and I got the hickory and apple. Like a lot things time passed on, they never got used and ended up in a box in a pile of other boxes.                                                          
           To smoke the chicken I first made a mix of brown sugar and sea salt, rubbed the fillets and  placed the chicken and the curing mix into a ziplock bag before placing in the fridge for an hour. The chicken was then removed and rinsed before being pat dry. I then set up my smoker over the bbq. burner allowing the kettle to heat up. The apple wood shavings were then soaked in water and squeezed dry before being placed in the bottom of the kettle. When the kettle was full of smoke I placed the chicken fillets on the rack inside the smoker and smoked the meat for 5 minutes with heat and then a further 5 minutes with no heat. The fillets were then removed and allowed to cool, then torn into bite size portions. To make the fava bean puree I simply shelled the bean pods, steamed the beans for 6-8 minutes before adding to the blender with a little water and seasoning, this was then blended to puree. The Granny Smith apple was sliced thinly skin on into 2mm slices, dressed with some olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt. For the greens I washed and cut circles using a biscuit cutter out of a mustard green leaf and a radicchio leaf, these were dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. To make the crumble I mixed crumbled savoury biscuit and sesame seeds together with a little olive oil.                                                    
          To plate I spooned a dollop of puree on the plate placing the stack of apple slices next to this. On each, a lettuce round was placed on topped with creme fraiche and a cinnamon myrtle flower. Between the two stacks I arranged a pile of the torn smoked chicken pieces scattering the sesame crumb on top of the chicken and garnishing with jasmine flower petals.