Poultry

Pancetta chicken

Feeds 6. Takes 1 hr 15 min

Lemony, garlicky chicken cooks itself in the oven.  Serve with a green leaf salad.

• 10 boned chicken thighs

• 1tbsp grated lemon rind

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 2tbsp finely chopped parsley

• 1tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 10 slices pancetta, or thin rindless bacon rashers

• 6 big vine-ripened tomatoes

• 2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

• 2tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Wash and pat dry the chicken thigh fillets.  Combine lemon rind, garlic, parsley sea salt and pepper, and rub into the inside of each chicken thigh.  Roll them up and wrap with pancetta or bacon (starting with the fat end of the bacon).

Cut tomatoes crosswise into three thick slices and arrange on a lightly oiled baking tray.  Scatter with sea salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Arrange chicken pieces on another tray (or on top of the tomatoes if need be), and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the chicken is tender, the pancetta is crisp, and the tomatoes are soft and juicy

Rest the chicken for five minutes before slicing into 1 cm rounds.  Arrange tomatoes on six warm dinner plates top with chicken and serve. 

Poached Chicken in Lemon & Tarragon dressing

Recipe from Sue Murray

• 6 chicken breasts skin left on

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 100 to 175 ml vegetable stock

Dressing:

• Rind & juice of 1 lemon

• 1tbs white wine vinegar

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 2 tsp caster sugar

• Salt and pepper

• 100 ml olive oil

• 4 tablespoons snipped fresh tarragon leaves

• 6-8 olives to garnish

1. Heat oven 180c (350F).  Arrange chicken breasts skin side up in a deep baking dish keeping them tightly packed. Brush with 1tsp olive oil. Pour in enough stock to come part way over breasts but not submerge the.  Put in over uncovered and bake 30 to 35 minutes.  Let breasts cool in the stock.  Refrigerate until needed.  Can be done 1 day ahead.

2. Dressing – Combine rind and juice of lemon, vinegar. Add crushed garlic, mustard, sugar, seasoning and oil.  Mix well.  Add tarragon leaves.

3. Lift breasts from stock. Pull away skins. Slice diagonally or tear into strips.  Arrange on white dish & spoon over the dressing.  Add olives to garnish.

Pollo Di Graziella

Graziella’s chicken from Carluccio’s cookery book.

Mum note:  utterly delicious, but rather too naughty!!

SERVES 6

• 1 x 2 kg (4V2 lb) free-range chicken, cut into chunks (including the giblets)

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 5 bay leaves

• 2 sprigs of rosemary

• 2 glasses of dry white wine

• 1 glass of extra virgin olive oil

• 1 kg (2%/: Ib) potatoes, peeled and quartered

• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Graziella is one of the few self-taught female chefs at the head of a five-star restaurant kitchen in Italy. She learned her trade in her mother's kitchen, which was probably full of recipes from previous mothers. Graziella prepares genuine Pugliese food at Masseria San Domenico, a five-star hotel in Savelletri, where it is a rare pleasure to eat regional specialities, mostly based on the excellent local vegetables, rather than the bland international food often served in hotels. This chicken dish should ideally be cooked in a terracotta pot placed in a wood-fired oven in a sandwich of glowing coals. However, it is also excellent cooked slowly in a conventional oven at home.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F, Gas Mark 5.

The method is quite simple. Mix all the ingredients together in a terracotta pot, cover with a lid and leave to marinate for 1 hour.  Place in the oven and cook for at least 1½  hours, or until everything is tender and succulent. 

Lemon Roast Quail with thyme & Potatoes

Preparation 15 mins – cooking 25 mins.  Serves 2.

You need 2 each as they are very small.  Arrange on large white plate and serve with wedges of lemon.

• 350g small new potatoes

• 4 quail

• 2 large lemons

• 4 garlic gloves

• Fresh thyme

• 1 sprig resmary

• 4 fresh or preserved vine leaves or 4 cabbage leaves

• 25g butter

• 4 tbsp olive oil.

Preheat oven to 400f (200c).  Boil potatoes (350g small new unpeeled) until tender with seasoning.  Drain & return to pan, cover with cold water leave for a couple of minutes, drain again.  Remove skins, cut in half.

After prepping potatoes untie birds, rinse the cavities, season inside and out. Crack garlic cloves & skin.  Halve one lemon & cut one half into quarters. Divide bunch of thyme in four and break rosemary into four pieces.

Stuff each bird with lemon piece, garlic clove and small bunch of herbs.

Place vine leaves or cabbage leaves in bowl & cover with boiling water.  Leave for 30 seconds.  Drain & wrap a leaf over top of birds tucking ends underneath so completely covered.

Arrange quails on a pat of butter in middle of large roasting tin.  Toss potatoes in most of the olive oil and arrange around quail with lots of oil.  Squeeze remaining lemon half over the top.  Roast 25 minutes.  Remove to warm plate for 5 minutes.  Leave potatoes to cook on.  Surround birds with potatoes and lemon wedges.

Chicken with Lemon

• Organic chicken – 1.5kg

• 2 lemons

• 4 tbs thyme leaves

Preheat oven 200c (Gas 6)

Wipe chicken, clean, trim off excess fat.

Wash lemons and thyme, squash lemon with palm of hand and pierce all over with a cooking fork until soft.

Season the cavity, place inside lemons and thyme.  Close up using wooden cocktail sticks.

Roast in oven, breast side down for 1½ hours.  Do not use any oils or butter, chicken will self-baste.  Turn breast up after 1 hour.  Serve with the juices.

All-in-one Chicken Tray Bake

Easy and tasty.  Serves 4.

• 2 tbs olive oil

• 4 chicken breasts skin left on

• Potatoes - new or old.  Sliced new or chopped old

• Thyme

• Flat leaf parsley

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole

• Jar of mixed roasted peppers cut bite size or fresh red peppers

• 2 oranges cut into eight segments

• Pitted black olives

Fry chicken.  Heat oven to 200c.  Heat 1tbspoil – fly chicken skin side down 8 mins or so until golden and crisp.  Turn over and cook a couple of mins.

Add potatoes, thyme, garlic.  Roast 10 20 mins, then take try out and throw in peppers, oranges olives, roast for 10 to 15 mins.  Serve.

Lemons too can be added for sharper flavour.  Also you could substitute fish steaks instead of chicken reducing heat a little, adding fish last.

Chicken, plumbs, soy

From Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Sweet plumbs and salty-tangy soy sauce are brilliant paired with tender chicken.  Chilli and ginger are desirable but optional.  I would say the garlic is a must though.

Serves 4

• 8 bone-in, skin-on, free-range chicken thighs (or  1 small free-range chicken  jointed into 8 pieces) 

• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil

• 1-4 red, mild to medium-hot, fleshy chillies, to taste (optional)

• 4 garlic cloves, sliced

• A thumb-sized piece of  ginger, peeled and coarsely  grated or thinly sliced  (optional)

• 8 plums, halved and stoned

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

• A small bunch of coriander, leaves only, chopped (optional)

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200"C/Gas 6. Put the chicken thighs in a roasting tray, trickle with the oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, turning once or twice.

Meanwhile, halve and deseed the chillies, if using, then cut each into 1cm strips. After its 30 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven and add the sliced chillies, garlic and ginger, if using, to the roasting tray. Turn the chicken again to make sure the aromatics are evenly distributed around and under the pieces. Roast for a further 10 minutes.

Tuck the plum halves around the chicken pieces and trickle over the soy. If there doesn't seem to be much liquid in the tray, add a few tablespoons of water. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes until the plums are soft and yielding their juices.

Baste the chicken and plums with the pan juices, then leave to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Finish with a scattering of chopped coriander, if you like, Serve with noodles or plain rice.

SWAPS: For a store cupboard version of this dish, you could use prunes or dried apricots (ideally the plump, ready-to eat ones) instead of fresh plums.

Mum note:  Do add more water and soy. Nice with noodles.  Very delicious but needs slightly longer cooking time 1¼ hrs.  Serve with a salad – Fennel, orange & watercress.

Summer Chicken with Mint and Lemons

Middle Eastern dish.  Serves 6.

• 6 chicken breasts – boneless, cut into 3 pieces

• 2 lemons – juice only

• Olive oil

• 2 crushed garlic cloves

• 2 tsps turmeric

• 2 – 3 tsps cumin

• Large handful of mint.  Save some for garnish.

• 1 carton of plain yoghurt (Greek)

Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix lemon juice, oil, garlic, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper, mint.

Coat chicken well.  Lay in shallow overproof dish.  Leave to marinate at lease one hour.

Cover dish with foil.  Cook 1 – 1¼ hours.

Spoon over yoghurt.  Sprinkle with mint.

Mum’s notes:  Serve with pitta breads.  Alse delicious cold (preferred).  Good on picnics with pitta bread.  We have loved this for many years.

Oregano Spring chicken with Lemon Potatoes

Serves 4.  Prep 35 minutes.  Cook 60 minutes.

Any leftovers are delicious.

• 4 tbs olive oil

• 2 medium onions

• 3 lemons

• 8 large garlic cloves

• 900 g large waxy potatoes

• 4 poussins

• 2 tsp dried oregano

• 250 ml dry white wine

• 250 ml water

• 4 sprigs of cherry tomatoes

Smear a large roasting tin with a little olive oil.  Halve the onions, peel, slice in wedges.  Half lemons, cracking garlic cloves but do not peel.

Peel potatoes, slice thickly.  Pour 3 tbs oil in mixing bowl, add the potatoes, onions, oregano, salt and pepper.  Swirl around to coat.  Spread in tin, tuck in garlic, add wine and water.  Roast 30 minutes.  Use scissors to cut backbone of poussin.

Turn birds over and cut in half down the breastbone.  Place skin side up over potatoes.  Smear with oil and squeeze over lemon.  Season well.  Add oregano.  Add tomatoes.   Roast 30 mins, potatoes should be tender, poussin cooked and tomatoes soft.  Serve covered in pan juices.

Flash-fried Moroccan Chicken

For 2, simply double for 4 

From Nigel Slater

• 350g/I2oz chicken fillets or boned pieces

• 1 fresh red chilli pepper, seeded and finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon crushed dried chilli pepper

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• Juice of ½ lemon

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons sultanas or raisins

• 2 tablespoons pine nuts

• 1 tablespoon chopped mint  

I love dusk in Marrakesh. I love the cacophony of sounds and smells as the musicians start and local lads set up their stalls of food, freshly squeezed juices and other good offerings. Some of their cauldrons look (and probably are) sinister, but others are tempting enough. A chicken leg, grilled over coals and smothered with raisins, pine nuts and a mind-blowing quantity of garlic is one of the best things I have eaten there. A bowl of dishwater flavoured with chilli the worst. This is my somewhat wimpish version of the former.

Place the chicken pieces in a shallow dish.  Mix together the fresh and dried chillies, garlic, lemon, half the olive oil, cinnamon, sultanas or raisins and pine nuts, and then pour over the chicken.  Leave for 20 minutes or so.  An hour would be better if you have it.

Heat the remaining oil in a shallow pan; when it sizzles add the chicken pieces. Cook over high heat till golden brown and then turn them over and cook the other side. Pour in the marinade ingredients and bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper, and scatter over the mint. Serve hot with its pan juices.

• In the street I ate this with bread, but couscous would be my first choice here, the quick-cooking variety. For this amount of chicken, I suggest 225g/8oz couscous, soaked for 15 minutes in cold water and then seasoned with salt and black pepper and steamed in a colander (a few grains will escape into the cooking water, but no matter) for 15 minutes, Fluff up with a fork and stir in a generous knob of butter before serving.

• A plate of sliced oranges drizzled with olive oil and dusted with coarsely ground black pepper and a hint (and I mean a hint) of ground cinnamon, would be another choice. 

Chicken Parmigiana

Blanching and grilling aubergine slices adds just as much flavour and colour as  frying but without the extra fat.  Try this when making moussaka.

• 900g (21b) aubergines

• polyunsaturated oil

• 700g (13b) fresh (not frozen) skinned and  boned chicken breast fillets

• 1egg, beaten

• 50g (2oz) grated Parmesan cheese

• 225g (8oz) onion

• 1 clove garlic

• 400g (14oz) can chopped tomatoes

• pinch grated nutmeg

• 5ml (1 level tsp) dried oregano

• pinch sugar

• salt and pepper

• 180g (6oz) mozzarella cheese

• garlic bread to serve

Method:

1. Thickly slice the aubergine.  Blanch in boiling salted water 2 min.  Drain and refresh under cold water, pat dry with absorbent kitchen paper.  Brush each slice with a little oil and brown under a hot grill for a few min on each side, Cool.

2. Dip the chicken fillets in the beaten egg  and then Parmesan cheese. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 10-15 min.

3. Heat 15ml (1tbsp) oil in a medium-sized sauté pan and sauté the thinly sliced onion with the crushed garlic until  soft and golden. Stir in the tomatoes, nutmeg, oregano, sugar and seasoning. Spoon into a 2 litre (3½ pint) shallow  ovenproof dish.

4. Heat a further 30ml (2tbsp) oil in the sauté pan and quickly brown the chicken on both sides.  Drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

5. Arrange overlapping rows of chicken, aubergine and sliced mozzarella on top of the tomato mixture. Sprinkle with any remaining Parmesan cheese.

6. Cook, uncovered, at 190°C (375°F) mark 5 for 35-40 min, or until the  chicken is cooked and golden brown.  Serve with hot garlic bread.

TO FREEZE:  Pack and freeze at the end of stage 5, but do not pre-brown the chicken.

USE:  Thaw overnight at cool room temperature; complete as above.

Serves 6

Variation: for a quick vegetarian supper simply omit the chicken, increase the mozzarella slightly, reduce the size of the dish and sprinkle only half the Parmesan over the top.  (Steven note:  But why do this to yourself – eat the chicken, its better).