Grilled Chicken with Vegetable Noodles, Tomatoes, Olives, Basil & Feta

This is a happy plate of food. There is something about the colours and all the spirally noodles intertwining on the plate, speckled with dots of red, black and green that makes you feel cheerful. And it smells pretty fantastic too!

I must tell you I am a little in love with my Vegetable Spiralizer. It is truly a clever bit of kit. This recipe came about as a result of an urge to use it, just a need for a dish with the gorgeous twirly whirly spaghetti that it makes.

Kara and Vegetable Spiralizer

I got my kids involved and they happily wound the handle round and round, in spite of the mini melt down that occurred over who would do the carrot and who the courgette! As always at the end, you are left with a hugely appetising bowl of vivid vegetable joy.

I decided to make a warm dressing based on the idea of a sauce vierge. A little olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, tomatoes, black olives, a dash of white wine vinegar andย  heaps of chopped fresh basil. Topped with warm griddled chicken and sprinkled liberally with creamy, salty feta cheese. The aromas were undeniably enticing.

This is also healthy, with bright, fresh flavours. Itโ€™s a merrily appealing dish that makes you want to sit and eat it outside, bathed in sunshine with lots of lovely crisp white wine. This is one I look forward to making over and over again throughout the Summer.

Yes…I am most certainly inspired by my spiralizer. Watch this space for more experiments.

Grilled Chicken with Vegetable Noodles, Tomatoes, Olives & Feta

(Serves 3-4)

2 medium courgettes
2 small carrots
5 tbsp olive oil plus a little extra for frying
juice of 1/2 a large lemon
2 plum tomatoes, seeds removed, chopped into little cubes
150g pitted black olives
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
a large handful of chopped basil
100-150g feta, crumbled
3 chicken breasts

Start with the hugely satisfying job of making your noodles. If you donโ€™t have a spiralizer, you could of course make this dish with normal pasta or maybe even use a vegetable peeler to make long strips of vegetables instead.

bowl of vegetable noodles

Meanwhile, cook your chicken however you like, I griddled mine. Whilst it is cooking, make the sauce. Take a small pan and add your olive oil and squeeze in the lemon juice. Heat gently. Chop your deseeded tomatoes and add to the pan. Let them heat through for a few minutes and they will soften and enrich the sauce. Season well, add the garlic, black olives and vinegar and continue to heat gently whilst you cook the noodles.

Tomato, Olive, Garlic sauce

Fry your vegetable noodles in a little olive oil with lots of seasoning for around 8 minutes so they are cooked through but retain bite. Remove the sauce from the heat and throw in your chopped fresh basil and then pour over the vegetable noodles and stir them to coat.

Arrange the noodles on a platter and crumble over the feta cheese. Top with sliced chicken and serve and seriously enjoy!

Vegetable noodles with tomatoes, olives basil & chicken

ย I am entering this dish into a few blogging challenges. First off, Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen over at Lavender & Lovage as it is packed full of fragrant fresh basil.

Cooking with Herbs Lavender and Lovage

Next up, the Extra Veg challenge hosted alternately by (this month) Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families. Of course the use of vegetable noodles instead of pasta in this dish fits the brief perfectly.

Extra Veg Badge

And last but not least, I am popping this into this months Four Seasons Food challenge, hosted by me and alternatively by Louisa from Eat Your Veg. With the theme ‘celebrating vegetables’, this one is just the ticket.

18 thoughts on “Grilled Chicken with Vegetable Noodles, Tomatoes, Olives, Basil & Feta”

  1. Exactly the sort of springy dish I love at this time of year, plenty of veggies, fresh flavours and nice and light. And I’ve quite a bad case of spirilizer envy developing, despite the potential for child meltdown issues.

    1. You need this gadget in your life! I really do love mine. I’m planning another adventure with it very soon. It’s very inspiring and the veggies have such a great texture when lightly tossed in a pan. YUM.

  2. Oh Anneli, you are such a bad influence! I have just ordered a spiralizer, Having read your blog I decided I couldn’t live without one! Of course, it is a very sensible buy since the courgette season will soon be with us! That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!

    1. It is a pretty healthy dish! I think using vegetables like this really is a great way to inject colour and vitamins into your dishes. Healthy and light…yum.

    1. Hi Fran! Thank you very much – my daughter is the cutest thing in the world! She loves to help me in the kitchen and despite being a picky eater, she is getting more adventurous everyday and assures me that she will be a chef one day. x

    1. Thanks Anna – the spiralizer looks sophisticated but is super simple really! I have seen the little peelers that do this too and they are a great simple and much cheaper option. Work with what you have I say ๐Ÿ™‚ xx

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