Mexican chicken with pumpkinseed sauce

by Ed Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pumpkinseeds
  • 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1¼ cups roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
  • #15 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
  • salt flakes and freshly-milled black pepper
  • 1½ L chicken stock
  • 1 white onion, finely diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 cup tomatillos, drained
  • 2 long green chillies
  • 1 bunch parsley leaves
  • 2 cups spinach leaves
  • polenta, to serve

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 180°C. Combine the pumpkinseeds and sesame seed on an oven tray and bake for 5 minutes, until toasted. Grind with half the peanuts, until a smooth paste forms.

2 Season the chicken pieces generously, then place in a saucepan with the stock and set over a low heat. Simmer very gently for 30 minutes, until just cooked, then set aside, covered with cling film.
3 Add the pumpkinseed mixture, onion, garlic, tomatillos and chillies to the saucepan and boil rapidly for 15 minutes. Add the parsley and most of spinach then purée with a stick blender, remove from the heat and return the chicken. Mix in the remaining peanuts and spinach, then serve with polenta.