Baked chicken and strawberries

Sweet strawberries and savoury chicken make for an unusual combination in this dish. Serves 4 Preparation time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour Oven temperature: 180°C • 4 chicken drumsticks and 4 thighs

• 60ml olive oil

• 5ml each paprika, cumin and coriander

• 12 whole strawberries

• 30ml pomegranate concentrate or honey

• 45ml fresh orange or naartjie juice

• 3 sprigs thyme

• 250ml brown and wild rice, cooked

• 2 feta rounds, crumbled

• 60ml chopped flat-leaf parsley

• 100g almonds, toasted and chopped

1 Preheat the oven. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper and fry in 30ml olive oil until golden brown all over. Don’t rush it, the chicken must caramelise on the outside. Sprinkle the spices over and arrange the chicken in a roasting pan.

2 Remove the leaves from the strawberries but keep the stems. Add to the chicken in the roasting pan. Mix the pomegranate concentrate, orange juice and remaining olive oil and drizzle over the chicken and strawberries, followed by the thyme. Cover tightly with foil and roast for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, baste with the pan juices and roast uncovered for a further 15 minutes.

3 To serve Mix the cooked rice with the feta, parsley and almonds and moisten with the chicken pan juices. Spoon the chicken and strawberry on top of the rice and serve immediately.