The Recipe Room

Coronation Chicken is normally eaten cold. However, it’s also delicious served warm with rice.  Here’s one that I often cook in the spring and the summer.  Sometimes I make extra quantity; eat some hot, then store some in the fridge for a picnic.

The invention of the dish is accredited to a florist called Constance Spry and a chef called Rosemary Hume, who prepared the combination of cold chicken and a creamy curry sauce for the Queen’s coronation in 1953.  There are many variations of the dish, including this warm coronation chicken.

You can also use leftover chicken from previous recipes such as this sweetheart chicken curry with fragrant rice to use as a coronation chicken alternative.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled into long, thin slices
• 2 tsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, finely sliced
• 2-3 tsp curry powder of your choice
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• 295ml mayonnaise
• 160ml natural yoghurt or crème fraîche
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Handful of flaked almonds
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Steps:

1. In a large saucepan, add the whole chicken breasts, the onion, carrot and bay leaves.  Cover the ingredients with water and season well with salt and pepper.  Bring the water up to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer very gently for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.  Remove the pan from the heat and place the chicken breasts onto a plate to cool down.
2. In a shallow-based frying pan, heat the oil and fry the shallots on a low to medium heat for 3-4 minutes until soft.
3. Add the curry powder to the onions, some of the chicken stock that you have just made, including the carrots.  Then stir in the lemon juice and the tomato purée.  Cook at a simmer for around 10 minutes until the sauce is reduced and thickened.
4. Slice the cooked chicken breasts into 1.5cm pieces.
5. In a separate bowl, add the yoghurt or crème fraîche along with the mayonnaise, stirring them together before adding them to the frying pan.  Taste the sauce, and if necessary, add some extra seasoning.
6. Place the chicken pieces into the frying pan and coat them all over with the sauce. Add the flaked almonds.  Turn off the heat and sprinkle all over with the fresh coriander.
7. Serve with plain boiled rice.

Duration: preparation and cooking time less than an hour
Recipe for: 4 people

Fresh ribbons of pasta topped off with soft livers, and plenty of crunch; chestnut spaghetti with chicken livers is an unusually satisfying dish.

Let’s face it; chicken livers are not everybody’s favourite; perhaps they’re one of those things, like Marmite, that you either love or hate! If you’re one of the lovers, you’ll enjoy the combination of the soft livers with the crunch of the chestnuts in this dish. If you’re still not convinced, well, what’s the harm in giving it a try? You might just enjoy it, and livers are packed with nutrients, you know.

If livers really don’t float your boat, you could make this prawn and courgette tagliatelle instead. I recommend fresh pasta for this meal; or for the deeply committed pasta lover, you may want to make it yourself for the most delicate of textures and the best of tastes.

Ah, good old chicken liver paté, a taste from childhood that I’ve only recently rediscovered.  It was only yesterday, in fact, when my daughter and I went over to a friend’s house to play after school.  She and her buddy drank juice, drew great big pictures on a large sheet of paper in green and yellow, and then watched a movie.  And us two mums spread brandied chicken liver paté onto warm slices of wholemeal pitta bread and sipped on a small glass of good red wine in the kitchen, all the while chatting over life, the universe and everything.  An evening very well spent in good company.

You can do a lot with paté. Try this recipe for a multicultural sarnie called a banh mi, using paté as its main ingredient.

There are plenty of great shop-bought patés, but it’s very rewarding making it at home too, so here’s the recipe of the one my friend and I enjoyed yesterday, for you to try.

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 250g butter + 60g melted
• 500g chicken livers
• 4 slices of bacon, rind removed and chopped
• A couple of pinches of dried thyme
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 30ml brandy
• 60ml cream
• Fresh ground black pepper to season

For the topping:

• 120g melted butter
• A handful of scissor-cut chives

Steps:

1. Using a large heavy-based saucepan, first melt the butter.  Then add the onion, bacon and garlic; coating everything in the butter and sautéing until the bacon is golden and the onion is softened.
2. Toss in the chicken livers and fry them, moving them about occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.
3. Add the herbs, grind over with plenty of pepper, then stir in the brandy, cream and melted butter.
4. Put the mixture into a blender or food processor and whizz until you obtain a smooth consistency.
5. Turn the mixture out into a serving dish, or dishes.
6. To create the topping, simply pour the melted butter over the surface of the paté and then sprinkle over with the snipped chives.
7. Put the paté in the fridge to cool overnight, removing it from the fridge about half an hour before you are ready to serve it, so that it comes up to room temperature.
8. Wonderful served with hot, toasted and sliced wholemeal pitta bread.
   

Duration: 30 minutes to prepare, 30 minutes to cook

Recipe for: 8 servings

Risottos are a filling and healthy food to prepare on a budget.  Chicken risotto with green peas is a refreshing blend of spring vegetables, chicken and lemon. (I also recommend this mushroom risotto.)

Ingredients:

• 600g risotto rice
• 2 large onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• A generous splash or two of Martini, or white wine
• 6 chicken breasts sliced into diagonal strips about 1.5cm wide, skin removed
• 1.5L prepared, hot chicken stock
• 300g peas
• 300g courgettes, halved then sliced into long, thin strands – or however you prefer them
• 2-3 tbsp crème fraiche or double cream
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• A generous twist or two of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper to season

Steps:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan.  Sauté the onions and courgettes until soft.  Add the minced garlic and the chicken pieces; fry until the chicken is well-browned on all sides and about 2/3 cooked throughout.
2. Add the rice to the pan, coat it all over with the oil and juices and fry for a couple of minutes.  Splash in the Martini, turn the pan down to a simmer and reduce away all of the Martini.
3. Spoon in a ladle or two of the hot chicken stock.  Stir it in and with the pan uncovered, simmer the rice until the stock is absorbed.  Continue to add ladlefuls of stock in this way until the rice is fully cooked.  Stir the contents of the pan regularly.  Some of the chicken will fall apart in the cooking process, but this is normal and just contributes to the texture of the dish.
4. Use your judgement to gauge when the rice is around 10 minutes from being cooked, adding in the peas at this point, and stirring everything together.
5. Once the rice is cooked, remove it from the heat, season the pan well with salt and pepper, spoon in and combine the crème fraiche, twist over the lemon, and sprinkle over with half of the coriander and all of the parsley.
6. Serve into pretty bowls and garnish with the remaining coriander.
   

Duration: 30 minutes to prepare, 40-60 minutes to cook

Recipe for: 6 servings

It feels very satisfying to cook with your own home-made chicken stock, instead of crumbling in a stock cube.  Yes, it does take time and effort, so make enough to freeze it in portions; then you can store it for several weeks in the freezer, or keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days.  You could make this basic chicken stock once a month to tide you through until you make it up again. (For one of many recipes with chicken stock, try this chicken and corn chowder.)

Ingredients:

• 2.5kg chicken backs, wings and necks
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped into 3cm pieces
• 3 celery sticks, cut into 3cm pieces
• 2 medium onions, peeled, cut in half, then each half into 4 pieces
• 1 bay leaf, dried
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, whole
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Steps:

1. You will need an 8 litre capacity pan or stock pot.  Start by frying the onions in the olive oil on a medium heat in the pot until they are beautifully soft and golden.  Between 5 and 10 minutes should be enough.
2. Add all of the chicken pieces and fill the pan with water until the chicken is over-covered by about 3cm.  Add the salt, and then bring the water up to the boil, keeping the heat at medium. Using a ladle, regularly skim off the fat and any scum that rise to the surface.
3. Once the water reaches the boil, add the celery, carrots, bay leaf and peppercorns, and reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer.  Cook like this for 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours, skimming the surface of the stock regularly.
4. Line a sieve with cheesecloth and place these over a large bowl.  Strain the stock through the sieve lining and discard the solids that gather in the cloth.
5. Separate off the stock that you wish to use immediately, skim the fat off the surface and incorporate it into the recipe of your choice.  To store any stock that you will not be using straight away, let it cool completely.  You can speed up this process by setting the bowl of stock in an ice water bath.  Once completely cooled, separate and store the stock in freezer-proof containers, or in an airtight container in the fridge.  Let the stock set in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours to allow the fat to accumulate at the top.  Skim the fat off before use.  Do the same for frozen stock: allow it to defrost in the fridge until the fat rises to the surface, and then skim it off.

Duration: 15 minutes to prepare.  Up to 2 ½ hours to cook.

Recipe for: About 2.5 litres of stock

There are so many wonderful variations on this classic Thai dish.  Mine is put together on the basis of ease and simplicity. Kaffir lime leaves characterise this curry and give it a delicate fragrance.  I’ve chosen to use a fairly short list of ingredients to keep the flavours simple and the preparation straight forward.  Enjoy Thai Green Chicken Curry with a very chilled crisp dry white wine.  If you want to add to the vegetable content of this recipe you could experiment with adding diced aubergine once the chicken has browned for 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

For the chicken marinade

• 900g chicken breast, fresh, skinned and diced into 3cm cubes
• 4 tsp Barts Thai green curry paste

To make the sauce

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6 spring onions, finely chopped
• 6-10tsp Barts Thai green curry paste
• 1L (2 ½ 400ml tins) coconut milk
• 3 Kaffir lime leaves
• 2 fresh lemon grass stalks, slightly crushed
• 3 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 300g mangetout, washed and with ends trimmed off

To garnish

• 1 pack of fresh coriander, washed and roughly chopped

Steps:

First marinade the chicken

1. Put the chicken cubes into a bowl and mix in 4 tbsp of the Thai green paste.  Cover and pop in the fridge for 15 minutes to chill.

Then make the curry sauce

1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil, add the onion and soften for 3-5 minutes on a medium heat.
2. Add the Thai curry paste to taste and cook for another 5 minutes, then add the chicken cubes and cook again for 5 minutes, moving the contents of the pan frequently.
3. Add the coconut milk, the Kaffir lime leaves and the slightly crushed lemon grass.  Slowly bring the sauce up in temperature until it is simmering (be careful it doesn’t boil as this will make the chicken tough).
4. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, then add the fish sauce and cook on for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the mangetout and cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Remove the lemon grass stalks from the curry and serve with a portion of fragrant Thai rice, sprinkling the fresh coriander over the entire dish.

Duration: 55 minutes to prepare and cook (plus the 15 minutes chilling time)

Recipe for: 6 people

There are such good authentic curry pastes now that my original desire to create them from scratch has rather ebbed away over the years.  Yellow Thai chicken curry works really well with potatoes, and I use chicken thighs because they tend to be more succulent than chicken breast.  The result of all of the combined ingredients is colourful and aromatic.

Thai curries – red, green and yellow were traditionally made from similar ingredients but with each featuring its colour-corresponding chilli, and with each chilli providing different tastes and properties.  Over time the ingredients have evolved to further accentuate the colour aspect of the dishes.  The Indian spice turmeric helps to give yellow curry its beautiful golden colour.

Although coriander is more characteristic of Thai green chicken curry, I like to add it to my yellow curry too because quite simply, it adds colour, and is totally delicious.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 10 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless and cut into chunks
• 6 shallots (or 1 large onion) peeled and finely chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and sliced lengthwise into fairly thin strips
• 100g (1/4 tub) Cock Brand Yellow Thai curry paste
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 235ml chicken stock
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into smallish chunks
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Steps:

1. Heat the oil and fry the chicken in a large saucepan over a medium to high heat for 7-8 minutes, until the surface is golden brown all over.
2. Add the shallots and the yellow pepper and continue to fry for 3-4 minutes on a medium heat, until softened.
3. Add the curry powder and the yellow curry paste, stirring in well so that the chicken is coated in the paste.  Cook like this for a few minutes.
4. Pour in the coconut milk, the chicken stock and the fish sauce, stir, and bring the mixture up to a very gentle boil.
5. Add the potatoes, turn down the heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes, or until the chicken and potatoes are thoroughly cooked and tender.  Stir the curry occasionally during cooking.
6. Squeeze in the lime juice, stir in the sugar and the coriander, and serve with fragrant rice.

Duration: 45 minutes

Recipe for 5-6 people

Maybe you roasted a chicken the day before and now you fancy a hearty soup?  This recipe makes perfect use of those roast chicken left-overs.  It’s simple to make and is a true winter warmer.  Winter celery adds a distinctive flavour to the dish.  Once you’ve cooked it a couple of times, you could create a variation if you fancy it by swapping the carrot for parsnip or butternut squash, or by swapping the fresh parsley for fresh coriander.  A chicken and corn chowder is also a tasty option. You don’t need to use a blender for this recipe either, just remember to chop the vegetables nice and fine and enjoy the texture of the torn chicken pieces. I often enjoy a glass of Guinness with my Hearty chicken soup for richness of flavour and relaxation.  Chicken is packed full of protein, and did you know that it’s also a good source of selenium?  Ladies and Gents, this is a simple chicken soup for the soul!

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 carrots, washed and chopped into little cubes
• 3 medium celery sticks, washed and finely sliced
• 60g butter
• 30g plain flour
• 1.2 litres chicken stock
• 500g cooked, skinless chicken, hand torn into fairly fine shreds
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black peppercorns to taste

Steps:

1. Take a large heavy-based saucepan and place on medium heat, adding the butter, onions, carrots and celery and cook until the vegetables begin to soften.
2. Add the flour to the pan, stir it in, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour in the chicken stock and stirring the contents constantly, bring the liquid to the boil.  Reduce the heat, season with salt and black pepper and simmer the soup mixture for 10-12 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
4. Place the cooked chicken into the soup and continue to cook until the chicken is piping hot throughout.
5. Sprinkle and stir in the parsley, and serve in bowls with baguette or hunks of granary bread on the side.

Recipe for: 4 people

Duration: 1 hour