Roast chicken with heirloom eggplant and melon salad

Heat oven to 425°F. Season chicken on both sides with salt, pepper, and sumac. In a medium frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add chicken breasts, skin-side down, and cook, turning once, until skin is crisp and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes each side.

• While the chicken sears:

• Cut eggplant in ½-inch diagonal slices. In a colander, toss eggplant slices with a generous dose of salt and let stand to extract some of the water.
• Rinse and dry the mint. Pick the leaves from the stems.

Coat a baking sheet with a thin layer of oil. Transfer chicken to oiled baking sheet. Rinse the eggplant, pat dry and spread in an even layer on baking sheet with the chicken. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and the eggplant is tender and browned, about 20 minutes. While the chicken and the eggplant cook, prepare the melon salad.

Peel the melon, cut into quarters, and cut each quarter into ¼-inch thick slices. Rough chop the olives and the mint. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar with 1 tablespoon oil. In a mixing bowl, combine the cantaloupe slices, cooked eggplant, chopped olives and mint with dressing and toss gently.

Put one chicken breast on each plate and serve with cantaloupe salad on the side.