Dean's chicken panzanella salad

Dean says: 'This salad goes down well with everyone. It's great for entertaining as you can cook the chicken in advance, leaving you plenty of time to catch up with your guests. The peppery punch of the rocket really complements the sweet peppers and tomatoes.'

• Preparation: 15 mins
• Cooking: 55 mins
• Serves: 4

What you need:

• 3 part boned, skin on chicken breasts (750g or 450g cooked weight)
• 1/2 ciabatta loaf, torn into chunks (150g)
• 280g jar marinated peppers in oil, drained, roughly chopped and oil reserved
• 3 plum tomatoes, cut into chunks (260g)
• 1/2 cucumber, cut into large chunks (200g)
• 400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 x 25g pack basil, torn
• 1 bag Rocket, approx 100g (110g)

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 200oC, gas mark 6.
2. Place the chicken on a baking tray and bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove and cool slightly, remove the bones and skin and tear the chicken into pieces.
3. Meanwhile, on a clean baking tray toss the ciabatta in 1 tbsp reserved pepper oil and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden.
4. Mix the drained peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and beans together.
5. Whisk the remaining pepper oil with the vinegar and toss into the salad with the basil, rocket, chicken and ciabatta.

Cook's tip:

To save time, use ready roasted chicken. This works well using leftover meat from the Sunday roast.

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