Sabato owners Jacqui and Phil Dixon have enjoyed a long collaboration with the talented food writer and cook Julie Le Clerc

Julie has been curious about all things culinary for as long as she can remember. As a former café owner and chef, Julie enjoys creating accessible, straightforward but stylish recipes which encourage home cooks to put together deliciously satisfying dishes from scratch. When Julie sold her café many years ago, the Sabato philosophy of small batch, quality production fitted her desire to have her very popular, signature preserves and chutneys available to her established following. Sabato celebrates 25 years in business with 25% off the Julie Le Clerc range in-store and online from 1st-14th March.

One of Julie’s favourite recipes below uses Julie Le Clerc spicy harissa and preserved lemons.

Lemon & Harissa Chicken with Fregola
Serves 6

2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVO)

2 medium onions, chopped

600g Mahy Farms skinless boneless chicken thighs, each cut in half

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp JLC spicy harissa, plus extra to serve

½ cup Sabato tomato passata ~ organic

2 cups Sabato chicken stock

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp Romulo or Capirete sherry vinegar

1 Tbsp tomato paste

2 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

1 cup Losada olives, drained

½ jar JLC preserved lemon (4 wedges), flesh removed, skin rinsed and finely sliced

1 ¼ cups Quisardegna fregola sarda

Handful Italian parsley leaves, to garnish

Heat the EVO in a large flameproof casserole pan with a lid. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes over a medium heat until soft but not brown. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.

Season the chicken, add to the hot pan and cook until brown on both sides. Return onions to the pan, add in the harissa, stock, honey, vinegar, tomato paste, oregano, olives and preserved lemon. Give everything a good stir, then bring to the boil. Turn down the heat, cover pan with a lid and simmer very gently for 10 minutes.

Stir in the fregola, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the fregola is al dente and the liquid mostly absorbed. Season again if necessary. Scatter with parsley, to garnish and serve with extra harissa on the side if desired.

For more recipe ideas visit us in-store or on our website www.sabato.co.nz

SABATO, 57 Normanby Road, Mt Eden, T: 09 630 8751