Recipes

Chicken, soft spring onions and baby potatoes

Chicken, soft spring onions and baby potatoes

As an Irish girl I love spring onions (we call them scallions), as our beloved ‘champ’ contains nothing more than mashed potatoes, butter and chopped scallions cooked in milk. A sandwich of white bread, butter and chopped spring onions was a favourite childhood snack. But I had never cooked any other dish in which they were dominant. Until this. It’s spring-like, with a lovely muted oniony flavour. You can add peas (fresh or frozen, just stir them in towards the end of cooking) and shredded soft lettuce is good, too, just wilting a little in the heat. It’s a light, simple sauté, but doesn’t seem at all old-fashioned.
Couverts6
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 8 large skin-on bone-in chicken thighs or a mixture of joints
  • 400 g 14oz baby waxy potatoes (no need to peel)
  • 10 g ¼oz unsalted butter
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 450 g 1lb spring onions, roughly chopped
  • 200 ml 7fl oz dry vermouth
  • 3 –4 tbsp chicken stock or water
  • 5 tbsp crème fraîche or double cream
  • 1 tbsp chopped chervil leaves or parsley leaves, though aniseedy chervil is perfect here

Instructions

  • Trim the skin from the chicken thighs so that there are no ragged bits.
  • If the potatoes are any bigger than a walnut, cut them in half.
  • In a shallow broad pan (such as a sauté pan, something that will hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer) heat the butter and olive oil, season the chicken and brown it over a medium heat until coloured on all sides.
  • You are not trying to cook the chicken through, just colour it.
  • Lift the chicken joints out and put them in a bowl.
  • Pour off all but 3 tbsp of the fat from the pan.
  • Add 400g (14oz) of the spring onions and cook over a medium heat until they are glossy.
  • Add the vermouth and stock or water and bring to the boil, scraping up all the bits that have stuck to the pan.
  • Put the potatoes into the pan and reduce the heat to medium.
  • Return the chicken, with its juices, cover and cook at a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Remove the lid and cook for another 20 minutes.
  • The liquid will reduce and the chicken cook right through (you can check by piercing the flesh near the bone with a the tip of a sharp knife; there should be no trace of pink).
  • If you have a lot of liquid left, then remove the chicken and boil the juices to reduce them, but you should have just about enough to give everyone some chicken and a spoonful or two of juice.
  • Stir in the crème fraîche and the rest of the spring onions.
  • Heat through for a couple of minutes, then scatter the chervil on top and serve.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken

Chicken with shaoxing wine, crisp radishes and pickled ginger

Chicken with shaoxing wine, crisp radishes and pickled ginger

A dish that highlights the importance of texture. The sweet chicken is very good against the clean crunch of the radishes and daikon but – to really appreciate it – you should soak the cut radishes in iced water, as that really firms them up. Use Amontillado sherry if you don’t have Shaoxing wine and feel free to add sliced chillies at the same time as the ginger and garlic, if you want some heat as well.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN

  • 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
  • 115 g 4oz daikon
  • 130 g 4¾oz radishes
  • 2 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 3 cm 1¼in root ginger, peeled and shredded
  • 6 garlic cloves very finely sliced
  • 50 ml 2fl oz Shaoxing wine
  • 2½ tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 2 spring onions finely chopped
  • 50 g 1¾oz pickled ginger (pink or beige, though pink looks better)
  • 2 tsp black or white sesame seeds
  • about 2 tbsp micro leaves if available (purple amaranth, cress or pea shoots)

FOR THE MARINADE

Instructions

  • Cut the chicken thighs into chunks (about 2.
  • 5cm/1in square) and put into a bowl with the marinade ingredients.
  • Mix everything together, cover with cling film and put in the fridge to marinate for two hours if you have time, 30 minutes if you’re pushed.
  • Bring to room temperature before cooking.
  • Peel the daikon and cut it into thin batons.
  • Trim the radishes and slice them lengthways.
  • Drop these into a bowl of ice cubes and water and leave to crisp up.
  • Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok or sauté pan until it’s really hot, then brown the chicken in three batches, removing the browned chicken as it’s ready and putting it into a bowl.
  • It’s really important to get a good colour on the chicken.
  • Add the rest of the oil to the pan, heat it, then add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry until the garlic is pale gold.
  • Deglaze the wok or pan with the Shaoxing wine, then return the browned chicken.
  • Season generously with pepper.
  • Cook for another four minutes, stirring from time to time, then add the soy sauce, honey and 75ml (2½fl oz) of water and cook for another four minutes, tossing the contents of the pan around, until you have enough liquid to just coat the chicken and the chicken is cooked through.
  • Add the lime juice and taste for seasoning.
  • Put the chicken into a warmed broad, shallow serving bowl.
  • Drain the daikon and radish and quickly pat dry in a clean tea towel.
  • Throw these over the chicken with the spring onions, picked ginger and sesame seeds.
  • Serve immediately, sprinkled with the micro leaves (if using).
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken

Chicken rye schnitzel with mustard sauce

Chicken rye schnitzel with mustard sauce

Ah, one of the best midweek meals (and – hurrah – one that the kids have taken to as well). If you don’t want to make the mustard sauce, just serve some mustard (I prefer English here) on the side. I like it with a sweet-and-sour cucumber salad tossed with dill, or pickled or braised red cabbage. Little waxy potatoes too, please.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

FOR THE SCHNITZEL

FOR THE MUSTARD SAUCE

  • 15 g ½oz unsalted butter
  • 4 shallots finely chopped
  • 3½ tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 150 ml 5fl oz dry white wine
  • 200 ml 7fl oz double cream
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • good squeeze of lemon juice

Instructions

  • Put the thighs between two sheets of greaseproof paper and flatten them with a rolling pin.
  • (Bash them, but not so violently that the chicken flesh starts to break up.)
  • Set out three broad shallow soup plates (or something similar).
  • Fill one with the flour and season it well, the next with the eggs and the last with the breadcrumbs.
  • Make the mustard sauce.
  • Melt the butter and gently sauté the shallots until soft.
  • Add the vinegar, whack up the heat and reduce to about 1 tbsp.
  • Add the wine and boil to reduce by half, then add the cream, mustard, lemon and salt and pepper and heat through.
  • If it becomes too thick (the lemon juice will thicken the cream), just let it down with a little water.
  • Set aside to reheat later.
  • Season the thighs, then dip each one in the flour to coat, then the egg, then press into the rye crumbs.
  • Set them on a nonstick baking sheet as they are ready.
  • Heat half the groundnut oil in a large non-stick frying pan.
  • Cook the thighs over a medium heat for four minutes on each side.
  • The coating should be golden and the chicken cooked through.
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper and quickly squeeze lemon juice all over the schnitzel.
  • Quickly reheat the sauce.
  • Serve the chicken immediately with the sauc
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken

Roast jerusalem artichokes and chicken with anchovy, walnut and parsley relish

Roast jerusalem artichokes and chicken with anchovy, walnut and parsley relish

More messing around with anchovies. Here they arenot disguised – you know you’re eating them – but I am totally hooked onsalty-sweet-savoury combinations. Cooks tend to think anchovies are good withlamb, but they work really well with chicken, too.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN

FOR THE RELISH

  • 1 fat garlic clove chopped
  • ¼ tsp sea salt flakes
  • 150 g 5½oz walnut pieces
  • 5 anchovies drained of oil and chopped
  • 75 ml 2½fl oz extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
  • 4 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
  • Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes well.
  • You don’t need to peel them (the skin looks good and has a nice nutty flavour).
  • Cut them in half lengthways and put them in a steamer.
  • Cook for about 10 minutes, then pat them dry.
  • Heat half the oil in a roasting tin on the hob.
  • Tumble in the Jerusalem artichokes and shake them around to coat in the oil.
  • Brush the rest of the oil on the chicken joints and put these into the tin too, making space for them among the artichokes.
  • Season well and squeeze on the lemon.
  • Roast for 35–40 minutes, shaking the pan every so often.
  • The vegetables should be tender and caramelized in patches and the chicken golden and cooked through.
  • Meanwhile, make the relish.
  • Put the garlic and salt flakes into a mortar and grind to a paste.
  • Add the walnuts and anchovies and pound until you have a mixture that is partly puréed, partly chunky.
  • Stir in the oil, balsamic, some pepper and the parsley.
  • Either serve the relish on the side (that way people get to choose how much they have), or spoon it over the chicken and artichokes.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken / Nuts

Chicken with anchovies, lemon and rosemary

Chicken with anchovies, lemon and rosemary

Even if you don’t like anchovies you will love this dish. The anchovies don’t add a ‘fishy’ taste at all, instead they deepen the flavours of the cooking juices and make the whole dish more complex. Even my kids – who ‘hate’ anchovies – love this.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 8 large skin-on bone-in chicken thighs or a mixture of joints
  • 8 banana shallots peeled
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • really good pinch of chilli flakes
  • 5 anchovies drained of oil and roughly chopped
  • 3 sprigs of rosemary
  • 75 ml 2½fl oz dry white wine or dry vermouth
  • finely grated zest and juice of ½ unwaxed lemon

Instructions

  • Trim the chicken thighs of scraggy bits of fat to make them neat.
  • Quarter the shallots lengthways.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
  • Heat the oil in a broad shallow pan which can go on the hob and in the oven (and hold the thighs in a single layer without too much room around them).
  • Quickly brown the chicken on both sides over a medium-high heat.
  • You don’t want to cook it through, just get some colour on it.
  • Remove the thighs and put them on a plate.
  • Pour off all but 1 tbsp of the fat from the pan.
  • Add the shallots to the pan and cook for about three minutes to get some colour on these as well, then add three-quarters of the garlic, the chilli and the anchovies.
  • Reduce the heat right down and cook for another four minutes or so, pressing the anchovies with the back of a wooden spoon to help them ‘melt’ (they just disintegrate).
  • Add the rosemary, wine and lemon juice and bring to the boil.
  • Take off the heat.
  • Lay the chicken thighs on top of the shallots (the chicken should be skin side up), pour any juices that have come out of the chicken into the pan as well and put into the oven for 35–40 minutes, uncovered.
  • Check that the chicken is cooked through: when you pierce one of the pieces near the bone the juices that run out should be clear, with no trace of pink.
  • Taste for seasoning.
  • The chilli and anchovies should provide enough, but just make sure.
  • Chop the lemon zest and reserved garlic together very finely and sprinkle over the top.
  • Serve immediately.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken / Fish

Chicken with marsala, olives and blood oranges

Chicken with marsala, olives and blood oranges

This came about because I like blood oranges somuch. I put them with other ingredients that make me think of Sicily – Marsalaand olives – and so it was born. It can be hard to find dry Marsala (somepeople will tell you it doesn’t exist), but persevere. When blood orangesaren’t in season, use regular oranges.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 medium skin-on chicken jointed into 8
  • 2 small red onions halved and cut into crescent moon-shaped slices
  • 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 100 ml 3½fl oz dry Marsala
  • juice of 1 blood orange plus 2 blood oranges
  • 8 sprigs of thyme
  • 3 tbsp good-quality green olives
  • a little caster sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.
  • Heat the olive oil in a broad, shallow casserole in which the chicken joints can lie in a single layer (I use a cast-iron pan).
  • Season the chicken and brown it over a medium-high heat on both sides, skin side first.
  • Be careful not to turn the chicken over before it comes away easily from the base of the pan, otherwise you will tear the skin.
  • Remove the chicken from the pan and set it aside.
  • Drain off all but a couple of tbsp of the oil and add the onions.
  • Cook over a medium-low heat until they begin to soften.
  • Add the garlic and cook for another two minutes.
  • Deglaze the pan with the Marsala, stirring round to scrape up all the flavour that’s stuck to the base.
  • Add the blood orange juice.
  • Return the chicken – with any juices that have run out of it – to the pan, skin side up.
  • Season and add six of the sprigs of thyme.
  • Bring the liquid underneath the chicken to the boil, then take the pan off the heat and put it in the oven for 20 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, cut a slice off the bottom and top of each whole blood orange so they have a flat base on which to sit.
  • Using a very sharp knife, cut the peel and pith from each orange, working around the fruit and cutting the peel away in broad slices from top to bottom.
  • Slice the oranges into wheels and flick out any pips you see.
  • Add the olives to the chicken and lay over the sliced blood oranges.
  • (The oranges should stay on top, out of the liquid. ) Sprinkle the orange slices with sugar and return the pan to the oven.
  • Cook for another 20 minutes.
  • The juices under the chicken should have reduced, the orange slices have turned golden, even caramelized in patches, and the chicken be cooked through.
  • Add the leaves of the remaining two sprigs of thyme – it just lifts the flavour – carefully spooning some of the juices over them.
  • Serve immediately.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken

Turkish-spiced chicken with hot green relish

Turkish-spiced chicken with hot green relish

This dish seems simple, but I can’t tell you how much I love it. I’d heard about a Turkish relish-cum-salsa made with crushed green olives and chillies and the desire to try it became overwhelming one night. I have no idea whether this is anything like the Turkish relish I was told about and I don’t care; I just bashed everything together, adding and adjusting. When I’d finished I knew I would make this for the rest of my life. It packs a punch, it includes my beloved coriander and is so hot it makes you reach for a beer. I make it a lot to go with lamb as well as chicken. The chicken and relish are good with rice, of course, but if you’re in the mood for a wrap, well, there’s nothing better. Make sure you get plenty of cucumber and lettuce in the wrap too, though, as that relish needs taming.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN

FOR THE RELISH

Instructions

  • To marinate the chicken, mix the regular oil, cinnamon, cayenne, cumin, garlic and salt and pepper together to make a marinade.
  • Make little slits all over the underside of the pieces of chicken with the point of a knife.
  • Put the chicken into a dish and pour the marinade over, turning to coat.
  • Cover with cling film and put in the fridge.
  • Leave it there for a couple of hours, or overnight.
  • Bring it to room temperature before cooking.
  • Make the relish just before you cook the chicken.
  • Put the garlic and salt into a mortar and bash it with a pestle until it is crushed.
  • Halve and deseed both chillies and chop them roughly.
  • Add them to the mortar with the coriander, mint and olives and bash everything together, gradually adding the virgin oil and balsamic until you have a rough paste (it should be chunky, not puréed).
  • Add lemon juice to taste and set aside.
  • Heat a griddle.
  • Lift the chicken out of the marinade, shaking off the excess, and cook it.
  • Start off on a medium heat, cooking the chicken for about two minutes on each side, then reduce the heat to low and cook for another four minutes.
  • The chicken should be cooked right through and singed, but not burnt.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve the chicken with lemon wedges, rice or flatbread, a bowl of Greek yogurt and the relish. Cucumber and green salad are good, too.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken
Cuisine; European / Turkey

Casa Lucio’s chicken with garlic

Casa Lucio’s chicken with garlic

Casa Lucio is a Madrid institution. The great andthe good dine here – everyone from the royal family to Spanish movie stars andfootballers – and well heeled Madrileños, too. It isn’t cheap but the food issimple, old-fashioned and good.
This is not a granddish at all, but one of the quickest and most satisfying in the book. You haveto pay attention to it while you’re cooking – turning the chicken and alteringthe heat from time to time – but it doesn’t take great skill. I finish the dishwith dry sherry rather than white wine and leave the saffron as optional (it’sa very good recipe without it).
Lots of differentaccompaniments work here. Serve it with sautéed or olive oil-roast potatoes anda green salad; roast tomatoes and rice cooked with saffron; or baby spinachleaves and rice tossed with chunks of fried chorizo.
You do need either ameat cleaver or a heavy knife to chop the chicken thighs. Frying chicken thighsthat are cut into pieces, but retain the bone, is common in Spanish cooking.
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 bulb of garlic plus 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • olive oil
  • 1 tsp sherry vinegar
  • 4 tbsp dry sherry
  • a few saffron strands optional
  • handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves optional

Instructions

  • Using a meat cleaver or a good heavy knife, cut the thighs into 5cm (2in) pieces, then check to make sure there aren’t any little splinters of bone left.
  • Sprinkle with salt and leave for 10 minutes.
  • Separate the cloves in the bulb of garlic but don’t peel them.
  • Bash each one with the side of a broad-bladed knife to slightly crush.
  • Heat about 1cm (½in) of olive oil in a large frying pan until very hot.
  • Add the chicken and whole garlic cloves and cook over a high heat, shaking and moving the pieces around for about four minutes until they have a good colour, then reduce the heat a little and continue to cook, turning the chicken, for about another 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
  • Drain in a large sieve, getting rid of the oil.
  • Add the chopped garlic, vinegar, sherry, saffron (if using) and some salt and pepper to the pan.
  • Bring to the boil, return the chicken pieces and toss until the chicken is glossy and the liquid has been absorbed.
  • Everyone (or at least the food fashionable) seems to think it’s very passé to scatter dishes with parsley these days, but do it if you want to.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken
Cuisine; European / Spain

Hot italian chicken with peppers and chilli

Hot Italian chicken with peppers and chilli

Couldn’t be simpler… and yet this dish packs apunch. Try to resist adding onions, tomatoes or any other ingredients orflavourings: this is good because it’s simple. It is based on a Calabrianrecipe.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.
  • Heat the oil in an ovenproof sauté pan or shallow casserole.
  • Season the chicken and brown it in the oil on both sides.
  • It should be lovely and golden.
  • Remove and set aside once it’s well coloured.
  • Tip all but 2 tbsp of fat out of the pan, but don’t clean it.
  • Halve, core and deseed the peppers and cut the flesh into strips about 1cm (½in) wide.
  • Heat the fat in the pan and fry the peppers until they are slightly singed and beginning to soften.
  • Season and add the garlic and chilli and cook for another two minutes.
  • Deglaze the pan with the vinegars and stir everything around.
  • Add the leaves of two of the sprigs of oregano, then return the chicken (with any juices that have run out) to the pan on top of the peppers (the peppers should be mostly covered by the chicken and the chicken should be lying in a single layer, skin side up).
  • Scatter on the rest of the oregano.
  • Put into the hot oven and cook, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
  • The chicken should be cooked: check by piercing the flesh of one of the legs, with the tip of a sharp knife, at the thickest part near the bone.
  • The juices should run clear with no trace of pink.
  • If you find that the chicken is getting too dark on top during cooking, then cover with foil.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve immediately with potatoes you’ve fried or roasted in olive oil and a green salad.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken
Cuisine; European / Italian

Bourbon and marmalade-glazed drumsticks

Bourbon and marmalade-glazed drumsticks

This is lovely with a salad that cuts through thesweetness – watercress and shaved fennel is good – with a buttermilk dressing.Brown rice or spelt are perfect alongside.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Make small slits in the drumsticks with a sharp knife.
  • In a small bowl, mix 2 tbsp of the marmalade and 1 tsp of the mustard.
  • Set aside.
  • In another bowl, mix the remaining marmalade – squash it down with the back of spoon to break it up – the remaining mustard, the bourbon, garlic and chillies.
  • Put the chicken into this and turn it over so it gets well coated.
  • Cover and put in the fridge for a few hours (or leave it all day, or overnight if you prefer).
  • Bring it to room temperature before cooking.
  • When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 210°C/410°F/gas mark 6½.
  • Put the drumsticks – with all the marinade and any juices – into a roasting tin or gratin dish where they can lie in a single layer.
  • Add the orange wedges.
  • Turn the chicken and oranges over so that the oranges get coated in the marinade, too.
  • Season everything with salt and pepper.
  • Roast for 40–45 minutes, until the drumsticks are cooked through, glossy and almost caramelized.
  • In the last 10 minutes of the cooking time, brush the top of the drumsticks with the reserved marmalade and mustard.
  • Lift the oranges and drumsticks on to a serving platter and spoon some of the juices over the top.
  • You can’t eat the orange skin, but the flesh is nice: sweet and tart.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Chicken