I recently went hiking in the late afternoon, and my, did that give me many food ideas! Not my first time really; I happen to add a lot of things to my to-do list while I’m cycling too. As the name suggests, I was inspired by colors I saw during the sun, low in the horizon. I wanted to challenge myself to see how many colors I could put on one plate without many components! We have, on the menu, spice rubbed chicken breast accented with fragrant coriander, carrot puree brightened with turmeric, a warm beet and almond salad and a generous pan sauce with hints of lemon to utilize what is left in the pan after cooking the chicken!

Speaking of pans, have you ever noticed brown, caramelized bits at the bottom of your cast iron after cooking meat or vegetables? That culinary gemstone is called “fond” and is the base of delicious pan sauces. So to make a pan sauce, you start by deglazing your pan. In simple terms, you add liquid (stock, wine etc.) to the pan and scrape the fond. All you have to do now is to reduce the liquid by half and season it! The sauce packs a lot of flavor and makes a perfect swan-like end to the dish by being poured over the meat in your plate!

Not only does this meal have many hues from the color scale, it also ranks high on the scale of flavor!

"On the colour scale"

Spice rubbed chicken:

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• Salt
• Coriander
• 3 cloves of garlic

Evenly spread the mustard on both sides of the breast. Evenly coat both sides with coriander powder, paprika, torn coriander leaves and salt, per taste. Rest for about an hour before cooking. Heat some oil in a pan. Add crushed garlic cloves and lay the breast away from you. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden and cooked through. Remove from the pan and allow to rest. Reserve the pan with the fond for the sauce.

Carrot puree:

• 3 small carrots
• A small piece of ginger
• A pinch of turmeric
• 1 tsp. butter
• Salt

Peel and roughly chop the carrots into equal sizes. Boil the carrots, along with the ginger in about 3 cups of water. Add a handful of coriander and season with salt. Drain the carrots and ginger and reserve the stock formed. In a food processor, blend the carrots with the ginger, season with turmeric and salt. You may thin the puree with the stock. Set the puree aside.

Pan sauce:

• 1 cup reserved stock
• Salt
• Pepper
• Lemon zest
• 1 tbsp. cold butter

As soon as the chicken is done cooking, add the veggie stock to the pan and scrape the fond from the pan. Allow to simmer and reduce by half in volume on a low heat. Season the sauce with salt pepper and some lemon zest. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.

Warm beet and almond salad:

• 1 beet
• 2 tbsp. almonds, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. butter
• Salt

Cook the beet in a pressure cooker for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool. Meanwhile roast the chopped almonds and toss them in some paprika and melted butter. Peel and chop the beet into small cubes, combine with the almonds and season with salt.

Plating:

Slice the chicken breast on a bias. In the center of the plate spread some carrot puree and spoon the beet salad at one end. Lay the chicken pieces on the puree and spoon some more salad. Garnish with microgreens/ coriander. Serve with the pan sauce, to be poured on the chicken.