Roast Chicken Butter with Pitta Crisps

We were out the other night at a restaurant close to us, The Three Oaks at Gerrards Cross (definitely recommended it if you are local) and they served a delicious selection of breads with roast chicken butter ...... which got me thinking.

A little dollop of this very more-ish treat on a crunchy baked pitta crisp makes a great canapé, very naughty, but very difficult to resist. The butter is also good spread straight onto a piece of bread or a cracker. See what you think.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, skin on

1 garlic clove

Fresh thyme

Butter, at room temperature

Pitta

Olive oil

Seasoning

Method

Heat oven to 190ºc.

Cut the pitta in half and then slice each half open to make 4 flat pieces from each pitta. This is much easier if you can get Flatbread Thins by Deli Kitchen, but standard pitta will do perfectly well too. Thanks for the tip Helen! Brush the pitta pieces with olive oil and then cut into triangles. Season.

Place the pitta triangles on a baking sheet and cook for between 3 and 5 minutes (traditional pittas take longer). These pitta crisps make a delicious and healthy nibble too.

Cool on a cake rack and store with a silica gel sachet in an airtight container (see tips page).

Skin thighs and put the thighs aside for another use.

Place the chicken skins on a sided baking sheet with the garlic clove and some thyme sprigs, season and cook for 15 minutes or so, until they are golden and the fat has rendered out.

Pour off the fat, you need about 3 tbs, and leave it to set it in the fridge.

Chop the crunchy skins finely.

Chop some thyme leaves to make about a teaspoonful.

Beat the butter with an electric whisk until it is very soft and light. Beat in the reserved chicken fat, cooked garlic clove, freshly chopped thyme and a couple of tablespoons of the chopped chicken.

When all fully combined, put the chicken butter in the fridge to harden.

To serve, put little portions of the butter on each pitta crisp and decorate with some more of the chopped crispy chicken and thyme. Season again if necessary.

The butter can be placed on the pitta crisps several hours ahead. Store them in a cool place (but not the fridge).