Rainbow chicken skewers with roasted red pepper pesto dip

As I mentioned in my last post I have escalated my health kick since a few indulgent days in Cornwall last weekend. I’ve been back in the gym sweating up a storm and training hard- which is not fun when London’s drowned in sunshine with blazing blue skies outside.  I am feeling much better with far more energy and a clearer mind – hooray!

I picked up some skewer sticks a couple of weeks ago so with some butchers chicken thighs and lots of colourful veg we decided to make have skewers for supper. I marinated the chicken in paprika, lemon juice and olive oil to begin with and then made a roasted red pepper pesto dip to have on the side. I would normally make a vinaigrette type sauce to go with chicken skewers but as we had some pine nuts left over from the pesto a couple of weeks back I thought I would try something new. I’m glad I did as it worked so well!

What you need:

Preparation: 30 minutes
Making: 30 minutes

Equipment:

*4 skewers (Metal or wooden note: if wooden you will need to soak them for at least 30 minutes prior to putting in the oven)
*Baking sheet
*Mixing bowl
*Blender

Skewers 
To make 4

*4 chicken thighs
*1 sweet potato (large) or 2 medium
*5 medium mushrooms
*1 courgette
*1 yellow pepper
*8 baby tomatoes
*2 tbsp olive oil
*2 tsp smoked paprika
*1/2 lemon
*1/2 salt

Directions:

• Pre-heat your oven to 180°c
• Chop up sweet potato in to bite sized chunks and place in boiling water until nearly soft (10 minutes)
• Chop up your chicken in to large bite sized chunks and place into a mixing bowl
• Add in paprika, lemon and olive oil and get your hands dirty!
• Work the mixture in to the meat until fully covered (leave for an hr if you can, or for at least 20 minutes while you prepare everything else)
• Chop mushrooms in to halves (if you use button mushrooms you can put these on whole), yellow pepper, courgette and baby tomatoes
• With your pre-soaked skewers slide on each ingredient – including the sweet potato and chicken. I had around 3 pieces of chicken per skewer
• Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper
• Pop in the oven for 10 minutes before turning and leave for a further 10 – 15 minutes until the chickens golden brown and cooked through

Red pepper pesto
Makes 2 large ramekins

*50g pine nuts
*2-3 tbsp olive oil
*2 roasted red peppers
*1 large handful basil
*1/2 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp pepper
*1/2 lemon

Directions:

• In to the oven place chopped up red pepper (2) and leave to roast for around 20 minutes
• Once roasted add all ingredients in to a blender and blitz for about 1 minute until fully combined and paste like texture (you might have to scrape the sizes a couple of times throughout
• Serve straight away in two ramekins

Suitable for: Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free, Nut-Free (Skewers, not Pesto), Paleo

These skewers would also be perfect for a  bbq – the only reason we didn’t bbq ours is because we’re moving house so everything’s packed up and ready to go! I literally cannot wait to move now and show you around our little home and garden! Have a great weekend!