{Mustard Creme Fraiche Baked Chicken with Olive & Cucumber Salad}

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from the Guardian online (Hi Sam), his food is really beautiful, usually, don't get me wrong this tastes absolutely divine but its ugly, I don't even really want to show you the finished dish and Jay said encouragingly when I was snapping away "is it going on the blog is it?" it pays not to be shallow though because its really so yum and matched with the cucumber and olive salad, it is a perfect summer dinner for four.

...baked chicken

6 chicken thighs

250ml creme fraiche

2-3 heaped tbsp grain mustard

2 garlic cloves, crushed

150g pancetta or bacon in one piece
3 or 4 small sprigs thyme

Put the oven on at 200. Cut the thighs in half, trim and lay them single layer in an ovenproof dish. Combine the creme fraiche in a mixing bowl with the mustard, crushed garlic, a little salt and black pepper and thyme leaves.

Cut the pancetta into short, thick strips then fry in a non-stick pan until they are golden. Mix with the sauce then spoon over the chicken. Bake for 40 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the chicken is nicely coloured.

...the salad

2 lebonese cucumbers

100g stoned green olives
a bunch of flatleaf parsley
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil

Peel the cucumbers, halve them along their length then scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon. Slice the cucumber thickly, then put in a serving bowl with the halved olives (I forgot to buy the green ones so just used Kalamata). Pull the leaves from the parsley and add to the cucumber. Mix the lemon zest, juice and oil, grind in a little salt then toss with the cucumber. Serve with the chicken above.