Recipes

Bird pie

Bird pie

There’s nothing like a pie. It might look as though this is a very thick white sauce. It is. The leeks, once they’re added, can make the filling quite liquid as they continue to cook and you’re also adding lemon juice and cream, so the base sauce needs to be thick.
Couverts6
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Ingredients

  • 60 g 2oz unsalted butter
  • 60 g 2oz plain flour, plus more to dust
  • 500 ml 18fl oz whole milk
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tsp Dijon mustard plus more to taste
  • juice of ½ lemon plus more to taste
  • 3 tbsp capers rinsed
  • leaves from a small bunch of parsley finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp crème fraîche
  • 3 medium leeks bases removed, cut into rings and washed
  • 450 g 1lb cooked chicken, torn or cut into pieces
  • 300 g 10½oz puff pastry
  • 2 egg yolks beaten with 2 tsp milk

Instructions

  • Heat 40g (1½oz) of the butter in a saucepan and add the flour.
  • Stir this over a medium-low heat for a minute.
  • Remove from the heat and start adding the milk a little at a time (it’s better if the milk has been heated, but often I don’t have time).
  • Mix well with a wooden spoon to ensure there are no lumps; the mixture must be smooth.
  • Keep adding and stirring until all the milk has been added.
  • Season.
  • Return the pan to the heat and, stirring continuously, bring to the boil.
  • The mixture will thicken considerably.
  • Once it has come to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about three minutes (this ‘cooks’ the flour in the sauce).
  • Stir in the mustard, lemon juice, capers, parsley and crème fraîche and taste for seasoning.
  • Melt the rest of the butter in a frying pan and gently sauté the leeks for three minutes.
  • Splash in 2 tbsp of water, season, cover and cook over a low heat until tender, about seven minutes.
  • If there are lots of juices, increase the heat to reduce them.
  • Add the chicken to the sauce, then bring to the boil, reduce the heat and heat the chicken through.
  • Gently stir in the leeks and taste.
  • You may want to add more lemon juice or mustard.
  • Put the mixture into a 25 x 20cm (10 x 8in) pie dish – I like an enamel one as it conducts the heat well – and leave to cool.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out to the thickness of a 50 pence coin.
  • Cut off a strip the same width as the lip of the pie dish.
  • Wet the lip and press this strip on to it.
  • Brush the strip with water and lay the rest of the pastry on top.
  • Press the pastry lid on to the pastry strip, then cut off the excess.
  • Crimp the edges and use the remaining pastry to decorate the top of the pie.
  • Make three small slits in the pastry (near the middle) to let the steam escape.
  • Brush the top with the egg mixture and put into the oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the pastry is a deep golden colour and puffed up.
  • Serve immediately.
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Course; Chicken / Quiche

Cavatelli with chicken, pancetta, peas and cream

Cavatelli with chicken, pancetta, peas and cream

One of the easiest things you can do with cold roast chicken. If you have a few spoonfuls of gravy then put that in, too, with the cream. It will make the dish rather beige in colour but is gorgeously enriching. You can use any pasta shape for this, I just particularly like cavatelli, (trofie are good, too). This is a brilliant Sunday or Monday night supper.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

  • 225 g 8oz cavatelli pasta
  • 15 g ½oz unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 70 g 2½oz pancetta, cut into cubes
  • 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 200 g 7oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces
  • 175 g 6oz frozen peas
  • 250 ml 9fl oz double cream
  • finely grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
  • salt and pepper
  • leaves from 6 sprigs of mint roughly torn, or 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Instructions

  • Boil the pasta in plenty of water until al dente.
  • Make the sauce while the pasta is cooking.
  • Melt the butter in a frying pan and gently sauté the onion and pancetta until they are soft and golden.
  • Add the garlic and cook for another two minutes, then add the chicken, peas, cream and lemon zest.
  • Season and bring just to the boil, then reduce the heat, add the herbs and allow everything to meld for a minute or so (the herbs flavour the cream during this time).
  • Drain the pasta and return it to the saucepan in which it was cooked, adding the sauce.
  • Taste the whole thing and adjust the seasoning.
  • Pour into a warmed serving dish and serve with some Parmesan thrown over the top.
  • Offer more Parmesan on the side
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Course; Chicken / Pasta

Chicken, leek and pea speltotto with vermouth

Chicken, leek and pea speltotto with vermouth

There are two ways you can go when it comes to leftovers. You can be frugal and restrained – the freekeh with roast vegetable recipe uses this approach – or you can go luxurious. This speltotto is such a dish. It takes very humble ingredients and enriches them with a bit of cream and a slosh of vermouth. (You can leave the cream out if you are watching your fat intake. It will be less luxurious, but still good.) Using spelt – which is a healthy alternative – produces a less creamy risotto than arborio rice, but on the up side, it doesn’t need to be stirred constantly.
Couverts2
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Ingredients

  • 2 leeks coarse outer leaves removed, trimmed
  • knob of unsalted butter
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • 2 shallots finely chopped
  • 150 g 5½oz spelt
  • 50 ml 2fl oz dry vermouth
  • 300 ml ½ pint chicken stock, plus more if needed
  • 50 g 1¾oz frozen peas
  • 100 g 3½oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces
  • 3 tbsp crème fraîche or double cream
  • leaves from a couple of sprigs of tarragon optional
  • ¼ tbsp finely chopped parsley leaves or a bit more if you don’t have any tarragon
  • grated Parmesan or pecorino to serve

Instructions

  • Cut the leeks into rings about 5cm (2in) thick and wash really well.
  • Drain.
  • Heat the butter and olive oil in a saucepan, add the leeks and shallots and cook over a medium heat for about four minutes.
  • Tip in the spelt and stir it round so that it gets coated in all the cooking juices.
  • Add the vermouth and let it simmer away until you only have a few spoonfuls left.
  • Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock and leave it simmering on a low heat.
  • Add this to the risotto in ladelfuls, only adding new stuff when the previous lot has been absorbed.
  • You need to keep adding stock and stirring (not constantly, but fairly frequently) until all the stock is used up and the spelt is tender (there will still be a little ‘bite’ in the centre of each grain).
  • Add more stock or boiling water if you run out of liquid.
  • It will take about 25 minutes for the spelt to become tender.
  • Stir in the frozen peas five minutes before the end of cooking time.
  • Add the chicken and crème fraîche and cook until it has heated right through.
  • Add the herbs, cook for another minute, check the seasoning, then serve with the grated Parmesan or pecorino.
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Course; Chicken

Chicken, date and lentil brown rice pilaf with saffron butter

Chicken, date and lentil brown rice pilaf with saffron butter

I can’t tell you how often I make a pilaf using this recipe as a blueprint. When I don’t have that much chicken, I sauté an aubergine to extend the ‘meatiness’. If I’m being careful about carbs, I leave out the dates. If I don’t feel like saffron, I add shredded bits of preserved lemon to the pilaf and eat it with plain yogurt. Whatever you do, it always ends up greater than the sum of its parts. Pretty luxurious for a dish based on leftovers.
Couverts6
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Ingredients

  • 15 g ½oz unsalted butter, plus 30g (1oz) more for the saffron butter
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 300 g 10½oz brown basmati rice, washed until the water runs clear
  • 700 ml 1¼ pints chicken stock
  • 12 dates pitted and cut into thin slices, lengthways
  • finely grated zest of 1 orange and juice of ½
  • 200 g 7oz Puy lentils, rinsed
  • salt and pepper
  • good squeeze of lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 350 g 12oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces
  • 25 g scant 1oz chopped, unsalted pistachios or toasted flaked almonds
  • 4 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves
  • generous pinch of saffron strands
  • 300 g 10½oz Greek yogurt

Instructions

  • Heat the 15g (½oz) of butter in a heavy-based saucepan and sauté the onion until soft and pale gold.
  • Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
  • Now add the rice and stir it around until it is well coated in the butter and just beginning to toast.
  • Add the chicken stock, dates and orange zest and bring to the boil.
  • Reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook for about 30 minutes.
  • The stock will become absorbed in this time; if the rice gets too dry, add a little boiling water.
  • At the same time, cook the lentils in plenty of boiling water until tender (the lentils are cooked separately because the cooking time can be different from that of the rice, also the lentils make their cooking liquid murky, which doesn’t look so good).
  • The lentils can take anything from 15–30 minutes to become tender, depending on their age, but be very careful not to overcook them.
  • They need to retain their shape and can very quickly turn to mush.
  • Once the lentils are cooked, drain, rinse in hot water and add to the rice.
  • Fork through, season with salt and pepper and add a good squeeze of lemon juice.
  • Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and quickly reheat the cooked chicken.
  • Season.
  • Gently fork the chicken into the cooked rice and lentils along with the nuts, coriander and orange juice.
  • The dish should be moist but not ‘wet’.
  • Taste the dish for seasoning.
  • Quickly make the saffron butter: melt the 30g (1oz) butter in a pan, add the saffron and stir to help it colour the butter.
  • Put the rice into a broad shallow bowl, spoon on some yogurt (serve the rest on the side) then pour on the saffron butter.
  • Serve immediately.
  • You don’t want anything complicated on the side (there’s enough going on in this dish).
  • A spinach or watercress salad (add cucumber for crunch) would be perfect.
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Course; Chicken / Rice

Chicken, fennel and pancetta gratin

Chicken, fennel and pancetta gratin

Okay, I am not reinventing the wheel here. In terms of using leftovers this is about as simple and old-fashioned as you can get, but it’s easy and satisfying. Make sure you season the sauce properly, that’s key; you might need to add a little bit more mustard than stipulated. It’s very easy to adapt this recipe too: replace the fennel with blanched broccoli or leeks, or add a layer of spinach.
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Ingredients

  • 3 fennel bulbs
  • 75 g 2¾oz pancetta, cut into chunks, or bacon lardons
  • 15 g ½oz unsalted butter
  • 3 tbsp plain flour
  • 100 ml 3½fl oz dry white wine
  • 250 ml 9fl oz whole milk
  • ½ tsp English mustard or to taste
  • salt and pepper
  • 85 g 3oz grated Parmesan
  • 2 tbsp double cream optional
  • 375 g 13oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces

Instructions

  • Trim the fennel bulbs (reserve any little feathery fronds) and remove any tough outer leaves.
  • Quarter and remove the core in each piece.
  • Cook the fennel – microwave, steam or boil in a little water – until it has lost its hardness but is not tender all the way through.
  • Drain really well.
  • Sauté the pancetta or bacon in its own fat.
  • Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.
  • Make a white sauce by melting the butter and stirring in the flour to form a roux.
  • Cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes, then take off the heat and start adding the wine a little drop at a time, stirring well after each addition to make sure the liquid is well incorporated and the mixture is lump free.
  • Gradually add the milk in the same way.
  • Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring all the time.
  • The sauce will thicken.
  • Once it is boiling, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about four minutes to cook the flour.
  • Add the mustard, seasoning and Parmesan and, once the cheese has melted, the cream (if using).
  • Lay the fennel in a gratin dish, season, then top with the chicken, bacon and any little fennel fronds you collected.
  • Pour the sauce over the top and bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes, or until bubbling and golden.
  • Serve immediately.
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Course; Casserole / Chicken

Vietnamese chicken and sweet potato curry

Vietnamese chicken and sweet potato curry

It’s great to have a dish as flavourful as this on the table in around 20 minutes. And made with leftovers, too… (what could be better?)
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Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp rapeseed or groundnut oil or any other oil you prefer
  • 2 onions halved and cut into crescent moon-shaped slices
  • 2 red chillies halved, deseeded and shredded
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • ½ tbsp turmeric
  • 2 x 160ml cans of coconut cream
  • 200 ml 7fl oz chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1½ tbsp soft light brown sugar
  • 600 g 1lb 5oz sweet potato, peeled and cubed
  • 800 g 1lb 12oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces
  • juice of 1 lime
  • salt and pepper
  • handful of basil leaves torn

Instructions

  • Heat the oil and cook the onions over a medium heat until pale gold.
  • Add the chillies and ground spices and cook for another minute, stirring a little.
  • Add the coconut cream, stock, fish sauce, sugar and sweet potato.
  • Bring to just under the boil, then reduce the heat and cook until the sweet potato is tender (about 15 minutes).
  • Add the chicken to the curry.
  • Cook for another two minutes or so, or until the chicken is warmed through and the sweet potato is completely soft.
  • To thicken the dish, press some of the sweet potato with the back of a wooden spoon so it disintegrates into the sauce.
  • Add the lime juice, check the seasoning and stir in the basil.
  • Serve with boiled rice.
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Course; Chicken / Curry
Cuisine; Vietnam

Chicken and pumpkin laksa

Chicken and pumpkin laksa

There are many different kinds of laksa – essentially a thick noodle soup – and it varies from country to country (it’s found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia). This is a simple version, perfect for cooking midweek (it’s pretty quick, despite having to do a bit of pounding to make the paste) and a great vehicle for leftover chicken. You can add other ingredients (beansprouts, beans, peppers), it depends on what you have. I’m usually quite purist about dishes (I don’t like mucking about with classics) but on a Wednesday night, when you’re hungry and short of time, I think anything goes. You can use wide rice noodles or, if it’s all you have, rice vermicelli.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

  • 450 g 1lb pumpkin, unprepared weight
  • 2 bird’s eye chillies
  • 2 lemon grass stalks
  • 4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
  • 2 cm ¾in root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • good knob of virgin coconut oil or 1 tbsp of any other oil you like plus more to blend the paste (optional)
  • bunch of coriander
  • finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime or to taste
  • ½ small onion sliced into thin wedges
  • 600 ml 1 pint chicken stock
  • 400 ml can of coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce or to taste
  • 100 g 3½oz cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 75 g 2¾oz dried rice noodles
  • 250 g 9oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces (you can add more if you have it)
  • big handful – literally – of baby spinach leaves
  • handful of mint leaves torn

Instructions

  • Halve, deseed and peel the pumpkin then cut the flesh into chunks about 2.
  • 5cm (1in) square.
  • Put these into a steamer and cook over boiling water for about 15 minutes.
  • The pieces should be tender.
  • Slit the chillies along their length; you can decide whether to remove the seeds or not (I don’t).
  • Chop.
  • Remove the tougher outer leaves from the lemon grass and roughly chop the paler hearts.
  • Put the chillies, lemon grass, garlic and ginger into a small food processor (or a mortar and pestle) and whizz or pound until you have a rough paste.
  • If you’re using a food processor you might need to add a little coconut or rapeseed oil to help it blend.
  • Add the coriander stalks and half the leaves, both chopped, and the lime zest and pound or blitz again.
  • Heat the good knob of coconut or rapeseed oil in a saucepan and add the onion.
  • Cook gently until it softens a little but is still pale in colour.
  • Add the spice paste.
  • Cook over a medium heat for another minute or so, until you can smell that the spices are no longer ‘raw’.
  • Add the stock and coconut milk and bring to just under the boil.
  • Add the fish sauce and the tomatoes and simmer gently for about seven minutes (the tomatoes don’t have to get soft; they should keep their shape).
  • Prepare the noodles according to the packet instructions.
  • Add the pumpkin, chicken and spinach to the laksa and allow the pumpkin and chicken to warm through thoroughly and the spinach to wilt.
  • Finally, stir in the rest of the coriander leaves, chopped, the mint and the lime juice.
  • Taste for seasoning and balance (you might want more lime juice or fish sauce).
  • Divide the noodles between four bowls and ladle the laksa on top.
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Course; Chicken / Soup

Chicken, spinach and cauliflower risotto with melting fontina

Chicken, spinach and cauliflower risotto with melting fontina

This is a bit like the Sunday lunch I used to enjoy as a child – roast chicken, cauliflower cheese and greens – but all mixed together in a soft bowlful. If you can’t find fontina, use Gruyère instead. It’s different – it doesn’t melt in the same way and fontina is richer – but it’s not a bad substitute.
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Ingredients

  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • 10 g ¼oz unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 600 ml 1 pint chicken stock
  • 150 g 5½oz risotto rice
  • 50 ml 2fl oz dry white wine or dry vermouth
  • ½ medium cauliflower broken into florets
  • 75 g 2¾oz spinach leaves, washed, coarse stems removed
  • 100 g 3½oz cooked chicken, torn into pieces
  • freshly grated nutmeg
  • 45 g 1¾oz fontina cheese, coarsely grated
  • salt and pepper
  • grated Parmesan to serve (optional)

Instructions

  • Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan and gently sauté the onion until it is soft but not coloured.
  • Heat the chicken stock separately, so it is gently simmering.
  • Add the rice to the onion and stir it around in the butter.
  • Cook for a couple of minutes over a medium heat, then add the wine or vermouth.
  • Let this bubble until it has almost disappeared, stirring all the time.
  • Now add the stock, a ladleful at a time, again stirring the rice constantly.
  • Only add a new ladleful of stock when the previous one has been absorbed.
  • It will take about 25 minutes for the rice to cook; it should end up soft but with a little bite still in the centre of each grain.
  • Before the cooking time is up – when there’s about 10 minutes left – boil or microwave the cauliflower (I microwave both cauliflower and broccoli, I think it’s a great method for them) until only just tender.
  • Add this to the risotto and keep stirring, being careful not to crush the cauliflower.
  • When there are about three minutes left to go, add the spinach, chicken and nutmeg.
  • Stir in the cheese right at the end (it will melt in the heat) and add salt and pepper to taste (you probably won’t need much salt as reduced stock makes risotto salty).
  • Serve immediately.
  • You can offer some grated Parmesan on the side if you want, but it is pretty strong already.
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Course; Chicken

Pot-roast chicken with bacon, baby gems and creamy parsley sauce

Pot-roast chicken with bacon, baby gems and creamy parsley sauce

Even though it’s a pot-roast, this is a very elegant dish. The baby gems – with their lovely milky centres – become soft but retain bite. Excellent spring eating.
Couverts6
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Ingredients

  • salt and pepper
  • 1.8 kg 4lb chicken
  • 5 baby gem lettuces
  • 25 g scant 1oz unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 350 ml 12fl oz dry white wine
  • 4 sprigs of thyme
  • 150 g 5½oz bacon lardons
  • 200 ml 7fl oz double cream
  • 3 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • good squeeze of lemon juice

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C/340°F/gas mark 3½.
  • Season the chicken inside and out.
  • Remove any discoloured outer leaves from the lettuces and trim the root ends.
  • Heat the butter and oil in a reasonably heavy-based, ovenproof saucepan or casserole in which the chicken can sit snugly surrounded by the lettuces.
  • It needs to have a lid.
  • Brown the chicken all over – carefully turning it so you don’t rip the skin – then pour in the wine and add the thyme.
  • Bring to the boil then immediately reduce the heat, cover and put into the oven.
  • Cook for 1½ hours, taking the lid off after 50 minutes and tucking the baby gems in round the bird.
  • Baste them with the cooking juices to make sure they are well moistened.
  • Brown the lardons in a small frying pan in their own fat – it will just start to run out when you heat them – and scatter them over the top of the lettuces.
  • Return to the oven without the lid.
  • Continue to cook, basting the lettuces and turning them every so often.
  • The chicken is cooked when – if you pierce between the legs and the rest of the body with the tip of a sharp knife – the juices run clear with no trace of pink.
  • Take the chicken and the lettuces out of the pot (be careful with the lettuces as they are delicate), put on a warmed platter, cover with foil and insulate (I use old tea towels for this).
  • Remove the thyme and strain out the bacon (reserve it).
  • Pour the cooking juices into a jug, skim the fat from the top and discard it.
  • Heat the cooking juices and add the cream.
  • Boil until you have a sauce about the thickness of single cream, then add the parsley and reserved bacon.
  • Add a squeeze of lemon juice (this will thicken the sauce) and taste for seasoning.
  • Serve the chicken on a platter surrounded by the lettuce with the creamy parsley sauce on the side.
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Course; Chicken

Chicken in the pot with vegetables and barley

Chicken in the pot with vegetables and barley

It sounds very plain, but this is one of the best things I cook. It’s like a very substantial version of the chicken soup my family grew up with. My mum adds boiled potatoes to the finished dish. You can spoon on buttermilk or cream, too, or offer mustard on the side.
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Ingredients

  • 4 leeks
  • 300 g 10½oz long slim carrots, preferably with greenery
  • 1½ tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium-sized chicken about 1.6kg/3lb 8oz
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2 celery sticks finely chopped
  • bouquet garni plus more parsley stalks
  • 200 ml 7fl oz dry vermouth
  • 55 g 2oz pearl barley
  • about 4 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

Instructions

  • Remove the discoloured outer layers from the leeks and trim the dark tops.
  • Cut them into 4cm (1½in) lengths and wash thoroughly under running water to remove any trapped soil.
  • Trim the carrots (if you’ve bought them in a bunch leave a little of the tufty top on each).
  • Wash really well, but don’t peel.
  • If you have fatter carrots, cut them in halves or quarters lengthways.
  • Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based casserole over a medium heat and brown the chicken on all sides.
  • I use wooden spoons to help me turn it over.
  • Try not to tear the skin while you’re doing this and season as you go.
  • Remove the chicken, set it aside and add the onion and celery to the pot.
  • Sauté gently until the onion is softening but isn’t coloured, about five minutes.
  • Return the chicken and add the bouquet garni, parsley stalks, carrots, a good grinding of black pepper, the vermouth and 800ml (1 pint 7fl oz) of water.
  • Bring to the boil, then immediately reduce the heat right down, cover and poach the chicken for 1½ hours.
  • The water must not boil; it has to be gentle or the chicken will become tough.
  • When the chicken has 45 minutes of cooking time left, add the barley.
  • When there are 15 minutes left, add the leeks.
  • At the end, add the chopped parsley.
  • Serve in big broad soup plates, giving each person some of the vegetables, barley, broth and chicken.
  • My mum serves boiled potatoes with this, which you can break up in your broth, or buttered wheaten (soda) bread.
  • I must admit to gilding the lily a little (well, why not? ) and offer cream, mustard and – sometimes – even horseradish.
  • It also goes well with the accompaniments you serve with Little (ish) bollito misto, though of course that’s not remotely authentic.
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Course; Chicken