Recipes

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

Poule au pot with caper and shallot cream

Poule au pot with caper and shallot cream

Leave out the chicken livers from the stuffing if you prefer, but if so increase the amount of bacon by 50g (1¾oz). You don’t have to serve the cream sauce and it isn’t authentic, just something I do myself. A pot of Dijon mustard suffices, or go Italian and serve with Salsa verde
Couverts6
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Ingredients

FOR THE STUFFING

  • 15 g ½oz unsalted butter
  • 150 g 5½oz bacon, chopped
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 2 chicken livers chopped
  • 60 g 2oz fresh breadcrumbs
  • 1 small egg lightly beaten
  • handful of chopped parsley
  • good grating of fresh nutmeg
  • finely grated zest of ½ lemon

FOR THE CHICKEN

  • 1.4 kg 3lb 3½oz chicken
  • 3 leeks
  • 1 celery stick
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • small bunch of parsley stalks
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 black peppercorns
  • 1 onion quartered
  • 12 slim carrots peeled
  • 1.5 litres 2 pints 13fl oz chicken stock, or water
  • about 12 small waxy potatoes

FOR THE SAUCE

Instructions

  • To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a frying pan and add the bacon and onion.
  • Sauté until the onion is soft and pale gold.
  • Add the garlic and chicken livers and cook for a couple of minutes more.
  • Put into a bowl, add all the other ingredients and season well.
  • Remove the fat from round the cavity of the chicken and stuff it, sewing it up with a poultry needle, or using a couple of skewers to keep it secure.
  • Tie up the chicken legs to keep the shape neat (not essential but it does look better).
  • Remove the coarser outer leaves from the leeks and cut off the dark tops and trim the bases.
  • Cut into 6cm (2½in) lengths and wash thoroughly to remove any trapped soil.
  • Cut the celery in half and tie it in a bundle with the thyme, parsley stalks and bay leaves to make a nice fat bouquet garni.
  • Put this into a pot with the chicken, peppercorns, quartered onion, carrots and stock or water.
  • Bring to the boil, then immediately reduce the heat, cover and cook really gently for 1½ hours.
  • Fifteen minutes before the end of cooking time, add the leeks and boil the potatoes (I like to cook the potatoes separately or they make the broth cloudy).
  • Remove the onion and the bouquet garni.
  • To make the sauce, add the lemon juice to the cream – it will thicken as you stir it in – then add everything else.
  • Check for seasoning and balance.
  • A whole chicken that’s been poached – without browning – isn’t a thing of beauty, so I tend to remove the meat and put it on a platter with the vegetables and stuffing and provide a big jug of the broth (or you can prepare a single plate for each person).
  • I like it best served in soup plates (there’s room for the broth).
  • Offer the creamy sauce, or whatever sauce you want to serve, and some Dijon mustard on the side.
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Course; Chicken / Sauce

Pot-roast chicken with figs

Pot-roast chicken with figs

Pot-roast chicken often seems like a pure, ‘clean’ sort of meal, not a luxurious one. This, however, because of the figs, honey and Armagnac, is quite grand, more than a little special.
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Ingredients

  • 1½ tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1.8 kg 4lb chicken
  • 1 large onion roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp Armagnac
  • 125 ml 4fl oz dry white wine
  • 125 ml 4fl oz chicken stock
  • 4 sprigs of thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 18 figs stalks snipped, halved
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 20 g ¾oz cold unsalted butter,
  • cut into cubes

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
  • Heat the olive oil, season the chicken and brown it all over.
  • Remove the chicken.
  • Pour off all but 1½ tbsp of the fat from the pan and cook the onion in this over a medium heat until soft and golden.
  • Deglaze the pan with the Armagnac, scraping with a wooden spoon to remove all the sticky bits, then add the wine, stock, thyme and bay leaf.
  • Add a good grinding of black pepper.
  • Return the chicken and any juices that have run out of it.
  • Cover, put into the oven and cook for 70 minutes, then take the lid off and cook for another 20 minutes.
  • Baste every so often.
  • Strain off the cooking juices.
  • Cover the chicken to keep warm.
  • Skim the fat from the cooking juices.
  • Put the juices into a frying pan (one that will hold the figs in a single layer) and boil to reduce them.
  • You want a liquid that is slightly syrupy.
  • Reduce the heat and add the figs, vinegar and honey, to flavour the juices and make the figs tender and glossy, about four minutes.
  • Remove the figs with a slotted spoon and whisk in the cold butter gradually; it makes the sauce rich and shiny.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve the chicken – either whole or jointed – on a warm platter with the figs around it and the sauce in a heated jug on the side.
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Course; Chicken

Chicken with leeks, apples and cider

Chicken with leeks, apples and cider

This is my partner’s favourite dish (and the first thing I ever cooked for him) so it’s quite special to me. Perfect comfort food. Although it could just as easily come from Cornwall or Devon (because of the cider), it really takes me to Normandy.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

  • salt and pepper
  • 8 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs or a mixture of joints
  • 40 g 1½oz unsalted butter
  • 700 g 1lb 9oz leeks
  • 2 dessert apples
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 500 ml 18fl oz dry cider
  • 6 sprigs of thyme plus leaves from 2 more sprigs to serve
  • 150 ml 5fl oz double cream
  • 1 tsp caster sugar

Instructions

  • Season the chicken pieces and heat 25g (scant 1oz) of the butter in a large sauté pan (one which has a lid) or a wide casserole.
  • Brown the chicken on both sides and then set the pieces aside while you cook the leeks.
  • (Make sure not to burn the butter.
  • )
  • Remove the tough outer leaves from the leeks.
  • Trim the bases and cut off the tough, very dark leaves at the top.
  • Wash the leeks really well, making sure that you get rid of any soil that is lodged in them.
  • Cut into about 3cm (1¼in) lengths.
  • Add the leeks to the fat in the pan in which you cooked the chicken and sauté without browning for about 10 minutes; they should soften but not become sloppy.
  • Meanwhile, peel one of the apples, halve and cut into wedges.
  • Melt the remaining butter in a small frying pan and gently brown the wedges on each side.
  • Leave until you need them.
  • Add the flour to the leeks and turn them over in the juices.
  • Continue to cook for a couple of minutes.
  • Take the pan off the heat and slowly add the cider, stirring all the time.
  • Return to the heat, bring to the boil, then add the chicken, sprigs of thyme and the sautéed apple (don’t wash the apple pan).
  • Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer, put the lid on and leave to cook over a low heat for about 35 minutes.
  • The chicken should be cooked through, with no trace of pink.
  • Lift the chicken pieces out of the casserole and simmer the cooking juices until reduced by about one-third.
  • Add the cream, bring to the boil and cook for a couple of minutes.
  • Peel and cut the other apple into wedges and put in the frying pan in which you cooked the first apple.
  • Sauté gently, adding the caster sugar to help the slices caramelize nicely on the outside.
  • Cook until the apple slices are tender.
  • Return the chicken to the sauce and heat gently.
  • At the last minute, add the newly sautéed apples, sprinkle with the thyme leaves and serve.
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Course; Chicken / Fruit

Hot and sweet lime chicken wings

Hot and sweet lime chicken wings

Hot, burnished and sticky, this is barbecue food without the barbecue. These are great in the summer when you can’t be bothered to put the barbecue on and just as good at Hallowe’en or Guy Fawkes bonfire parties. Push the chilli quota higher if you want to.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

  • finely grated zest of 6 limes plus the juice of 8, plus lime wedges to serve
  • 4 red chillies finely sliced (don’t remove the seeds)
  • 2 green chillies deseeded and finely sliced
  • 8 garlic cloves crushed
  • 290 g 10¼oz lime marmalade
  • 100 g 3½oz dark soft brown sugar
  • 4 cm 1½in root ginger, peeled and very finely chopped
  • 20 chicken wings
  • roughly chopped coriander to serve
  • soured cream or Greek yogurt to serve

Instructions

  • Mix all the ingredients except the chicken, coriander and soured cream in a bowl, pressing the marmalade with the back of a spoon to break it down.
  • Put the chicken wings into this and turn them all over with your hands, making sure they get well coated.
  • Cover and marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours.
  • Bring to room temperature before cooking.
  • When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 210°C/410°F/gas mark 6½.
  • Lay the chicken wings in a single layer in a couple of roasting tins (if you put them on top of each other, they will sweat rather than brown).
  • Cook in the hot oven for 40 minutes, turning them over halfway through.
  • If they are getting too dark in colour (because of the sugars burning), cover them with foil.
  • Sprinkle with coriander and serve on a big platter with a plain green salad, or an avocado and leaf salad, and rice.
  • Lime wedges – chargrilled or fresh – look great on the platter, too.
  • Offer little bowls of soured cream or Greek yogurt to temper the heat.
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Course; Chicken

Chicken pot-roasted in milk, bay and nutmeg

Chicken pot-roasted in milk, bay and nutmeg

I’ve never been keen on the Italian dish of pork cooked in milk, but I was convinced to try this by Faith Durand who runs www.thekitchn.com website in the States. She heard about it from Jamie Oliver and made some adjustments, and I have made my own. Faith thinks it is the best chicken recipe in the world and my children would be inclined to agree with her. You won’t believe me until you try it, but it is a great dish: the chicken stays completely succulent and becomes sweet, imbued with and enriched by the flavourings in the milk. The nutmeggy milk makes it a bit like eating roast chicken with bread sauce (but without the hassle of making bread sauce). One of the most comforting dishes you could wish for.
Couverts6
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Ingredients

  • 25 g scant 1oz unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1.8 kg 4lb chicken
  • 350 ml 12fl oz whole milk
  • 10 garlic cloves peeled but left whole
  • 3 bay leaves
  • good grating of nutmeg
  • finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
  • Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan that can hold the chicken and has a lid.
  • Season the bird, tie the legs together if you want and brown it all over, using two big forks or wooden spoons to turn the chicken, seasoning it as you go.
  • Try to avoid piercing the skin.
  • Pour off the fat; you don’t need to throw it out, you can keep it to fry potatoes.
  • Add the milk, garlic, bay leaves, nutmeg and lemon zest to the pot.
  • Bring to just under the boil, then remove from the heat.
  • Put a lid on the pot and cook in the hot oven for 1½ hours, removing the lid halfway through cooking.
  • Baste occasionally, spooning the milk up over the bird.
  • At the end of cooking time the bird will be succulent and golden and the juices will be copious and slightly curdled.
  • Squash the garlic cloves with the back of a fork so they break down and flavour the juices.
  • Taste; you may want to add a little more nutmeg.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve – I love it with orzo or a rice pilaf – spooning the juices over the chicken and whatever starch you choose for a side dish. The vegetable you choose depends on the time of year. In winter it’s good with roast carrots, in the summer roast tomatoes and a salad of bitter leaves.
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Course; Chicken

Soothing north indian chicken

Soothing north indian chicken

This is not one of those head-spinningly rich or complexly spiced Indian dishes; it’s simple and modest, sort of the Indian equivalent of chicken soup or shepherd’s pie. It needs something soothing on the side, such as dal, or greens fried with ginger and garlic.
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Equipment

  • Saucepan

Ingredients

  • 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs
  • 2 tbsp ghee or groundnut oil
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 1 large onion grated
  • 8 garlic cloves grated
  • 30 g 1oz root ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds toasted and ground
  • 1 red chilli halved, deseeded and sliced
  • 1 green chilli halved, deseeded and sliced
  • 4 tbsp plain yogurt
  • good squeeze of lime juice
  • 1 tsp soft light brown sugar optional
  • salt
  • small bunch of coriander roughly chopped

Instructions

  • Put the chicken into a saucepan, pour in 500ml (18fl oz) of water and bring to the boil.
  • Immediately reduce the heat so the water is gently simmering, cover and cook for 35 minutes, or until the chicken is just cooked through.
  • Lift the chicken out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
  • Measure the cooking liquid and add enough water to make it up to 500ml (18fl oz) once more.
  • Rinse out the saucepan, dry it, then heat the ghee or groundnut oil in it over a medium heat.
  • Add the cumin seeds and pepper and cook for 30 seconds, then add the grated onion, garlic and ginger.
  • Cook until the mixture is soft and pale gold, a matter of seven or eight minutes, then add the ground coriander seeds and both chillies.
  • Cook for another two minutes, then reduce the heat and stir in the yogurt.
  • Now stir in the reserved cooking liquor, adding a little at a time.
  • Return the chicken to the pot, increase the heat so the chicken is hot right through, then reduce the heat once more and simmer for about four minutes.
  • Don’t boil the mixture.
  • Add the lime juice and sugar (if using) and season with salt.
  • Taste to check the seasoning.
  • Throw in the coriander and heat for 15 seconds so it can start to release its fragrance.
  • Serve immediately.
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Course; Chicken
Cuisine; India