Charcoal Chicken & Broccoli Salad with Miso Vinaigrette Recipe

Ingredients

– 4 kg charcoal
– 1 x 2 kg free-range chicken
– 3 small, tight heads of broccoli
– 125 g roasted almonds, cut width ways

Brine

– 50g sugar
– 150g salt
– 3 litres water
– 4½g ground black pepper
– 1 bay leaf
– 1½ tsp fennel seeds

Vinaigrette

– 25mL rice wine vinegar
– 3 tsp lemon juice (½ small lemon)
– ½ tsp white miso paste
– 1 clove garlic, finely minced
– 1 tbsp finely minced shallot
– 2 tsp sugar
– ¾ tsp soy sauce
– ¼ tsp good Korean sesame oil
– Pinch of salt
– 50mL rice bran oil

Method

1. First make up the brine. Dissolve sugar and salt in water in a saucepan on the stovetop. Remove from the heat, add pepper, bay leaf and fennel seeds and allow to cool completely. Add chicken and hold down with a weight, such as a large ceramic plate with a pot on top, to ensure it’s fully submerged. Leave to brine for eight hours, then remove and pat dry.

2. Light three-quarters of the charcoal in your barbecue and allow to burn for an hour.

3. Attach the chicken to an electric rotisserie and cook over low charcoal heat for two hours, adding more charcoal when needed.

4. While the chicken is cooking, cut broccoli into florets, then halve each floret. Bring a steamer up to a rapid boil and steam broccoli for one-and-a-half minutes. Refresh in salted and iced water. When cold, dry well on paper towel, cover and store in the fridge.

5. Blend all the vinaigrette ingredients except rice bran oil using a handheld stick blender. While continuing to blend, slowly add oil until emulsified.

6. When chicken is ready to carve, combine almonds, broccoli and vinaigrette. Carve chicken into four or eight pieces, choose your favourite piece and enjoy!

TIP: We use a 240-volt rotisserie kit on our charcoal barbecue. You can pick them up from your local hardware store.

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