Italian Olive Chicken Tenders Sandwich
Episode 3 of Illegal Tenders is back, and we're brining with Green Olive Brine! This salty, deep flavoured brine is absolutely perfect for making chicken tenders even more tender!
Done in 45 minutes
Serves 2
Ingredients
Olive brine tenders:
400gchicken tenders
1Lolive brine
200gplain flour
200g corn flour
1 tbspdried oregano
1 tbspdried thyme
1 tbspfennel seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
400ml water, cold
Olive focaccia:
500gstrong white flour
400gwater, warm
8gsalt
7g yeast
pinch of sugar
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Olive pesto:
20gmanzanilla olives, pitted
3 garlic cloves
20gpine nuts (or any other nut)
25gflat leaf parsley
5 tbspextra virgin olive oil
15g parmesan cheese
Serve with:
sun-dried tomatoes
roasted red pepper
roasted artichoke
handful of rocket
1burrata
2 tbspmayonnaise
1lemon, zest
1head of garlic, roasted
Salty and olive-y fried chicken tenders coated in an Italian inspired dredge, all sandwiched between Italian olive focaccia, with sounded tomatoes, an olive pesto and burrata... we're crowning this the new sandwich champion!
Method
Start by draining your left over olives, and brining the chicken tenders in the olive brine. Let this sit for up to 1 hour.
To make the focaccia, start by adding half the water, all the yeast and a pinch of sugar to your stand mixer bowl. Mix then add half the flour and knead for the 5 minutes. Add the remaining flour, water and the salt, and a drizzle of olive oil, and continue kneading for 20 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, cover with clingfilm, and let rest until doubled in size.
Once doubled, tip out onto a lined baking tray, spread out slightly and let rise again until doubled. Massage and spread again, and leave to rest for another 30 minutes, whilst you pre-heat your oven to the max setting. Place another baking tray on the bottom of your oven with water, to create steam. Massage the focaccia one more time, and cover with olive oil and olives, before baking until dark brown.
For olive pesto, add all the ingredients in stages, using either a pestle and mortar, or a food processor, and pound/pulse until you're happy with the consistency. Add salt and pepper last as the cheese is also salty!
Mix together all the dry ingredients for the dredge. Take half this mixture, and add the water. Take your brined chicken tenders, and place them into the wet dredge, followed by the dry dredge, and fry at 175°c for 7 minutes, or a probe reads 74°c internal temperature.
To build this beauty, start by lathering on that olive pesto, followed by rocket, sun dried tomatoes, roasted artichoke and red pepper. Add on those chicken tenders, and some burrata, and lather the top slice of focaccia with a lemon garlic mayo, made simply by grating lemon zest, and mashing roast garlic into mayonnaise.
And there you have it! Be careful though, because this one's big!
