Adrian's Blog

Tag: chicken

  • Nigella’s Praised Chicken

    I’m worried that we might not always be able to access Nigella’s Praised Chicken recipe online. Here is our slightly simplified version.

    Ingredients

    • 1 large chicken
    • 2 teaspoons olive oil
    • 1 clove of garlic
    • 100 ml white wine
    • 2 leeks (cleaned, trimmed & cut into 5cm logs)
    • 3 carrots (peeled & cut into 5cm batons)
    • 1 stick of celery (sliced into 5cm lengths)
    • approx. 2 litres boiling water
    • 1 bouquet garni (or 1 teaspoon dried herbs)
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • 2 teaspoons crushed black peppercorns
    1. Get out a large, cooking pot (with a lid) in which the chicken can fit snugly.
    2. On a washable board, un-truss the chicken, put it breast-side down and press down until you hear the breastbone crack. Then press down again, so that the chicken is flattened slightly. Now cut off the ankle joints below the drumstick.
    3. Put the oil in the pan to heat, add the garlic, roughly crushed, then brown the chicken for a few minutes breast-side down, and turn up the heat and turn over the chicken, then use the wine to deglaze the pan and let it bubble down a little before adding the leeks, carrots and celery.
    4. Pour in enough boiling water to cover the chicken, though the very top of it may poke out, then pop in the bouquet garni or dried herbs.
    5. The chicken should be almost completely submerged by now and if not, add some more boiling water. You want it just about covered.
    6. Bring to a simmer, put on the lid, turn the heat to very low and leave to cook for 1½–2 hours.
    7. Carefully lift the chicken out of the pan, and take some of the cooking liquid, skimmed, to make gravy. “Pull” the chicken and serve.

  • Chicken Kare Lomen

    For Rachael.
    Kare means “curry” and lomen is a corruption of “Lo Mein” which means boiled & drained noodles.

    Ingredients

    For the kare base:
    2 pieces of lemon grass, discard any dry leaves
    3cm piece of galangal root, peeled and sliced
    2 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
    2 small onions, peeled and chopped
    1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
    1 tsp paprika
    1 tsp fennel seeds
    1/2 tsp chilli powder or small red thai chilli, de-seeded and sliced
    1/2 tsp turmeric (fresh is best, finely chopped, but use powder if you don’t want yellow stained fingers)
    1/2 tsp yellow curry powder
    1 tsp shrimp paste

    For the kare sauce:
    1/2 tsp salt
    1/2 tsp sugar
    1/2 tsp MSG (optional)
    250ml water
    250ml coconut milk

    For the noodles:
    250g of somen (fine white wheat noodles, these are very thin and so need very little cooking)
    50g beansprouts (ok, a handful)
    50g cucumber, sloppy seeds removed, and cut into thin strips
    10g corriander leaves, remove any tough stalks

    For the chicken:
    2 medium skinless chicken breasts, inner fillet removed, fat trimmed
    2 tbsp soy sauce
    1 clove garlic, grated

    Method

    Mix the garlic and soy together and marinate the chicken for at least 1/2 hour.

    Take all of the ingredients for the kare base and whiz up in a blender to form a paste. Cook in a hot oiled pan for 10-15 minutes, the sauce will thicken slightly and turn a lovely red colour. Add the coconut milk, water, salt, sugar and MSG if using. Simmer slowly, do not boil, or the coconut milk will split.

    Grill the chicken, check it is cooked through.

    Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil and drop in the somen. Cook for 2-3 minutes and drain. Quickly blanch the beansprouts* in the same boiling water.

    Divide the noodles between a couple of bowls and pour over the kare sauce.  Dress with the cucumber, beansprouts and coriander. Slice the chicken and arrange over the noodles. Serve with teryaki sauce.

    *Never, ever eat raw beansprouts, unless you have grown them yourself or can otherwise be sure they aren’t contaminated with e-coli.