WE eat so much chicken that from time to time i just have to write about it. I buy organically raised, Scottish chicken in my local Co-op. It costs me around £10 per bird, and this gives us three meals: two main courses for the four of us and soup made with leftover bits and stock from the carcass.
Whatever anyone else says, organically raised chickens are the best. Yes, they cost more. But, as you can see, they become economical with some careful planning. I tend to pot-roast the chicken in its initial cooking. This is both convenient and deli
cious. In summer, chicken is so good eaten cold, and pot-roasting gives it a succulence that straight roasting tends not to do.
Chicken is a "safe" meat. By this I mean you can count on everyone liking it. And of all the meats we use, it must be the most adaptable. I can't think of a single other food that doesn't go well with it.
CHICKEN, BLACK OLIVE AND ROSEMARY SALAD WITH ROAST RED PEPPER SAUCEThis makes a refreshing change from a mayonnaise-based chicken salad.
SERVES 6
6 pieces of chicken – I use chicken supremes
18 kalamata olives, halved and stones removed
1 lemon, washed, dried and quartered
2 teaspoons salt, preferably Malden
a good twist of black pepper
1/4 pint/140ml olive oil
3 sprigs of rosemary each approx 6in/15cm
For the roast red pepper sauce:
4 red peppers
6 fat cloves of garlic, skinned
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 15 grinds of black pepper
1/2 pint/285ml crème fraîche
Put the chicken pieces into an ovenproof dish. Surround with the olives and lemon quarters. Scatter the salt and grind the pepper over the chicken, and pour the olive oil evenly over each piece. Lay the rosemary over all. Bake in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, for about 40-45 minutes, until the pieces of chicken, when stuck with a knife in the thickest part, run with clear juice. If there is any tinge of pink, return to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes – the pieces can take longer to cook if they are packed into a small dish. Allow to cool.
To make the roast red pepper sauce, cut each pepper in half and scoop out the seeds. Grill the pepper halves, skin uppermost, until black blisters form. Put the charred pepper halves into a polythene bag for 5-10 minutes, then peel off the skin – it comes away easily and this method is so much better than grilling them over a flame.
Cut the pepper halves into chunks and put them into a roasting tin with the skinned garlic cloves. Add the olive oil and mix thoroughly. Roast in a moderate heat, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, for 25-30 minutes. Cool. Whizz the roast peppers and garlic till smooth, in either a blender or food processor. Season with salt and pepper, and fold the thick puree and the créme frâiche together.
Arrange the chicken pieces with the olives on a serving plate, and spoon some roast red pepper sauce over each piece of chicken. Discard the lemon quarters and the rosemary.
POT-ROAST CHICKEN WITH WATERCRESS SAUCESERVES 6
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, skinned and sliced thinly
2 leeks, trimmed and sliced thinly
1 large sprig of thyme (about 3in/7cm)
6 fat garlic cloves, in their skins
1 pint/570ml stock
1/4 pint/140ml white wine
1 teaspoon salt
about 20 grinds of black pepper
1 large organic chicken
1 teaspoon soft butter, mashed thoroughly into 1 teaspoon plain flour, to give a beurre manier, which is used to thicken the sauce
3oz/85g watercress
1/2 pint/285ml full-fat crème fraîche
Heat the olive oil in a large casserole and fry the onions and leeks for several minutes, until the onions are quite transparent. Add the thyme, whole garlic cloves, stock, white wine, salt and pepper to the vegetables in the casserole, bring to a simmer then put in the chicken, breast down. Spoon some of the liquid over the bird, cover the pan with its lid, and cook in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour. Stick a knife in between the leg and body of the bird. The juices should run clear. If they are even slightly pink-tinged, cover with the lid and continue to cook for another 10 minutes then test again.
Take the bird from the pan and put on a warmed serving plate and cover loosely with foil.
Over heat, stir some hot liquid from the pan into the beurre manier in a small bowl, then stir this back into the contents of the pan, stirring until the liquid boils. Cook for 1 minute, then draw the pan from the heat. Chop the watercress quite finely, stir this and the crème fraîche through the contents of the pan, taste, and add more salt if you think it is needed.
Carve the chicken and pour a little watercress and vegetable sauce over each serving.
If you prefer, you can liquidise the sauce before adding the watercress and crème fraîche. I like to leave the sliced onions and leeks un-liquidised, but this is a matter of personal preference.
CHICKEN BAKED WITH CORIANDER PESTO AND TOMATOESThis dish tends to look a bit messy, but the taste is so good it doesn't matter.
SERVES 6
3oz/85g parsley, flat or curly leafed, it doesn't matter
6oz/170g coriander
2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and chopped finely
2oz/55g pinenuts, dry-fried for 5 minutes over a moderately high heat, to toast them, then cooled
2 tinned anchovy fillets, drained of their oil
about 20 grinds of black pepper
a grating of dried chilli (optional)
1/2 pint/285ml olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
6 pieces of chicken – preferably supremes, skin on
6 ripe tomatoes, washed, dried and sliced
Cram the parsley and coriander into a food processor and chop – it soon breaks down in bulk. Add the chopped garlic, pinenuts, anchovy fillets, pepper (no need for salt, the anchovy contributes enough salt for most palates) and chilli. Continue to chop, adding the olive oil in a thin, steady trickle. Lastly, add the lemon juice.
Line a roasting tin with baking parchment. Put the chicken pieces on this and spread the pesto over them. Lay the tomato slices over the pesto-coated chicken. Bake in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour. The pesto will have lost its bright vivid green from its uncooked state and have become duller in hue, but the flavour is all there. This is good served warm, rather than hot straight from the oven. Warm bread, cut into chunks, is good with this, and useful to mop up the delicious juices. And a vinaigrette-dressed, mixed leaf salad is the only other accompaniment you'll need.
n For details on Claire's three-day residential cookery demonstrations at Kinloch Lodge, tel: 01471 833214 or visit www.claire-macdonald.com
The full article contains 1205 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
