Chargrilled Chicken on Avocado Salad

This is a great main course salad. It requires a little bit of last-minute work but its worth it, believe me.

Serves six

450g (1lb) skinned mini chicken fillets

Juice of ½ small lemon

6 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

175g (6oz) frozen peas

1 x 225g (8oz) bag baby leaf spinach

2 small rice but firm avocados

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad dressing

8 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp red wine

A good pinch of caster sugar

2 shallots,halved, and thinly sliced

2 tbsp mint leaves, chopped

To garnish

A small handful of mint leaves

Step one

Put the chicken fillets into a shallow dish. Whisk together the lemon juice, oil,salt and some pepper, pour over the chicken and mix together. Set aside for at least 30 minutes. If using a charcoal barbecue, light it 10 minutes beforehand. Alternatively, you can use a ridged pan or frying pan.

Step two

For the salad dressing, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar and some salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Stir in the shallots and set aside.

Step three

Drop the peas into a pan of boiling salted water, bring back to the boil and drain immediately. Refresh under cold water and drain well. Spread the spinach leaves over the base of 6 serving plates. Halve the avocados, remove the stones, then quarter the fruit and carefully peel. Cut across into slices and scatter on top of the spinach.

Step four

Remove the chicken fillets from the marinade and season with a little salt. Grill or barbecue over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate, cool slightly, then arrange over the top of the salads. Stir the peas and chopped mint into the dressing, spoon over the chicken and salad and scatter with a few small mint leaves to garnish.