Neil Perry's Amazing Chicken!

Last week I cooked up a chicken dish by Neil Perry that was in The Age's Good Weekend magazine. I have never cooked lettuce before and was intrigued to try it. The recipe was really quite simple and turned out to be absolutely delicious!

The braised cos lettuce was soft, but not slimy, which I had thought it might be. The sauce had amazing flavour and the chicken on the bone was just so tender. I couldn't get breasts with the wing bone in, so just used thighs on the bone. Having that extra bit of fat made the meat juicy and full of flavour. I also used frozen broad beans because I was a bit lazy and couldn't be bothered double podding fresh ones. If you have the time and inclination to prepare fresh broad beans, I'm sure they'd lift this dish to the next level!

I made this on a weeknight after work, and it really didn't take that long to prepare at all. You could even make it the day before and just reheat it, if that suited you better. The leftovers I had sure made a tasty lunch the next day!

Matched with a lovely Hunter Valley Semillon, this was a beautiful midweek meal. Thanks Neil Perry for a delicious dinner.

Chicken With Braised Baby Cos and Broad Beans

2 cloves of cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
4  chicken breasts, skin on, with wing bone (or skin on, bone in thighs)
1kg broad beans, in the pod (or 250g frozen)
A drizzle of olive oil
100g unsalted butter
2 heads baby cos lettuce (outer leaves removed), cut into eighths
4 small shallots, halved and thinly sliced
2 tbsp bacon, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste


In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and thyme. Rub this mixture into the chicken breasts and season generously. Set aside for the flavours to infuse.

If using fresh broad beans, remove them from the large green pods. Blanch them in boiling salted water for 1 minute, then refresh in iced water and drain. Peel the blanched beans, giving you about 250g of double-peeled beans.

Add a drizzle of oil to a wide, deep pan over medium heat. Place the chicken breasts skin-side down into the pan. Cook slowly until the skin is golden brown then turn over to seal the other side. Remove chicken from pan and drain off any excess fat.

Melt half the butter in the pan then add the lettuce. Brown on both sides and remove. 

Place the sliced shallots into the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Add the bacon and continue to cook until golden. 

Add the wine and increase heat to high, scraping the base of the pan, then reduce for a minute.

Add stock and return chicken to pan, skin-side up. Simmer, covered, over a medium heat for about 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked. 

In the last five minutes before the chicken is cooked, add the lettuce, cover and continue to simmer until the lettuce is braised but still holding its shape.

Remove the chicken and lettuce from the braising liquid and keep warm. Add the remaining butter then cook the sauce over a high heat until reduced and glossy.

Just before serving, warm the broad beans in the sauce.

Serve the chicken breast on the braised lettuce with the broad beans and sauce poured over the top.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

The Hunter Valley is known for its Semillon and Tyrrell's Wines would have be one of the most well known wineries from the area. We visited the Hunter Valley for a friend's wedding some years ago and picked up this bottle of liquid gold then.

Being nine years old the 2005 Single Vineyard 'Stevens' Semillon had a beautiful golden colour and aromas of quince, apple and lemon. There was still some lovely acidity, but also nice toasty flavours. Given that this Semillon was not oaked at all, it still had a beautiful complexity and rounded mouthfeel.

Neil Perry recommended having a Chardonnay with the chicken, but an aged Semillon was also a perfect match. The acidity balanced the richness of the chicken skin and the stock based sauce. I used this wine in the sauce as well, so the flavours married very well.

If you've never really tried a Semillon, but drink a lot of Chardonnay, then I urge you to give this variety a try. It is beautiful when enjoyed fresh and young when it has nice crisp acidity, but also fabulous with a bit of age on it, when it becomes rich and complex.

Fancy Chicken And Salad

As well as being the first birthday of eat quaff laugh this week, I've also had my parents over to stay, so it's been a great chance to cook up some nice meals and open some lovely wines.

I picked up the recipe for last night's dinner years ago, and I've finally got around to making it.

The vincotto and orange glaze on the chicken was beautiful - slightly sweet, but with a hint of bitterness as well. Served with the rocket, feta, red grape and caramelised walnut salad, it was just delicious. I ended up only needed a very small amount of the glaze, so you could either make half the recipe, or put it in the fridge to use another time.

I think this recipe is definitely going to become my go-to dinner in summer. While the walnuts do take a bit more time to prepare, you can make them in advance. I didn't use up all of mine in the salad, as I thought it might make it too sweet, so now I have leftovers to make a fancy dessert. Never a bad thing!

For a more interesting salad to take to a BBQ or gathering, make the salad by itself, without the chicken. Much more interesting than potato salad or coleslaw. Instead of chicken, you could always use lamb or pork. Crispy skinned duck fillets would be fantastic too.

With the warmer weather on the way, now is the perfect time to try this for a weekend lunch or dinner.

Vincotto Chicken With Rocket, Grape and Caramelised Walnut Salad

Caramelised Walnuts

100g walnuts

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup water

Cover a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan.

Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer over medium heat without stirring.

Watch the mixture carefully as it can easily turn from clear to burnt in the blink of an eye!

Remove from the heat when it turns golden brown, add the walnuts and stir to coat in the caramel.

Quickly pour the walnuts and caramel onto the baking tray and spread out into a single layer.

Allow to cool, then break into small pieces.

Glaze

1/2 cup vincotto

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/2 Tbs honey

1 galric clove, finely chopped

1 tsp soy sauce (or to taste)

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.

Stir until the honey dissolves, then increase the heat and simmer for about 1 minute.

Taste and add extra soy sauce, if needed.

Dressing

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Tbs verjuice or white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine.

4 chicken breasts

3 cups of rocket leaves

1 medium bunch of red grapes, stems removed

100g soft feta (Danish is perfect), diced

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Using a meat mallet, beat the chicken into roughly 1 1/2cm thick pieces.

Place chicken on a baking tray and brush liberally with the glaze. Turn and brush the other side.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

During cooking, brush with the glaze another couple of times.

In a large bowl, combine rocket, grapes and feta.

Gently toss to combine with the dressing.

To serve, place salad on the plates, top with a handful of walnuts and one piece of chicken.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

Last night we were a bit greedy and decided to open two bottles of wine. A bit fancy on a school night,  I know!

Mum and Dad live interstate, so I don't get the chance to see them very often, so opening good wine when they visit makes perfect sense. Champagne is obligatory for family dinners and what better bottle to open than a Champagne Jacquesson Cuvee no 735. This wine was based on fruit from 2007, so had a few years of extra complexity to it.

This Champagne was delicious! Yeasty and toasty with some acidity and lemony flavours. It wasn't overly heavy and was the perfect aperitif to have with some cheese before dinner. 

I could certainly drink a lot of this Champagne!

The second bottle we opened was a Turkey Flat limited release 5 month skin contact Roussanne. This wine was only released to the public last week and I managed to snap up three bottles, which were delivered yesterday. The fruit came from the Barossa Valley in South Australia.

Having 5 months skin contact, made this a lovely golden colour with beautiful stone fruit, honey and quince characteristics. There was still some acidity, but the overwhelming flavour was of being in an orchard at spring time. The sweetness perfectly complemented the glaze on the chicken, the caramelised walnuts and the salty feta.

This was a wonderful wine combination, that I hadn't even planned. I'm so glad I have another two bottles left to experiment with on another occasion.

Lemon Chicken

As a kid, lemon chicken meant the battered chicken in a luminous yellow sauce that you'd get at the local Chinese restaurant on a special occasion.

This recipe has absolutely nothing to do with Chinese food at all and tastes completely different. It is seriously one of the easiest dishes around and you can really add anything else you like to complement the flavours. I used some red onion, but you could add green beans or capsicum too, if you liked.

The sauce is delicious, so make sure you have something to soak it up. I love couscous, but rice, mashed potato or pasta would be equally as good.

I haven't made this one in ages, but when my husband and the kids gobbled it up, and asked for seconds, I knew that I was on to another winner!

Easy Lemon Chicken

A drizzle of olive oil

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges

Juice of 2 lemons

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3 Tbs brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large frypan over medium heat until hot.

Add the chicken and onion and fry, turning often until starting to brown.

Pour in the lemon juice, rind and brown sugar and stir to dissolve.

Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is starting to thicken and caramelise. Season to taste and add extra sugar if the sauce is too lemony.

Serve with minted couscous with toasted flaked almonds, mashed potato or rice.

Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken

I still had some basil left over after making my pasta last week, so decided to whip up a batch of pesto. I love the versatility of pesto and nothing beats that smell of fresh basil! I like basil pesto made the traditional way – toasted pine nuts, basil, parmesan, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. It really is so easy to whiz up in a food processor and any leftovers store well in the fridge, covered with a thin layer of oil to prevent the basil from oxidising and going black. You can even freeze it in ice cube trays for a simple meal when you don’t have the time to make it from scratch.

Not only can pesto be tossed through fresh pasta, but you can use it to add some extra flavour to a risotto, as a base for bruschetta with tomato and feta, mixed with ricotta for an easy filling for ravioli or as a marinade for chicken.

I decided to marinate some chicken in the rest of my pesto to make a tasty Monday night dinner that was really easy. If you don’t have much time when you get home after work, just toss the chicken pieces in the pesto before you bake them, but if you have time give them a couple of hours to really take on the flavours of the pesto. If you want to keep the chicken breasts whole, you can. I prefer to cut mine into tenderloin sized pieces to cook them a bit quicker. They are also nice this size if you plan to toss them through a salad.

Tonight I’m serving my pesto chicken with roast potatoes, garlic butter mushrooms and some steamed beans and snow peas. If the weather is warm, you could have a salad, or you could just use up whatever vegies you have in the fridge. The chicken is the hero of this dish, so it doesn’t really matter what you serve it with.

Pesto Chicken

2 chicken breasts, cut into tenderloin sized strips

2 Tbs basil pesto

Combine chicken and pesto in a bowl or container and mix until the chicken is well coated.

If you have time, allow to marinate for a couple of hours.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Place chicken on a lightly greased oven tray so that the pieces are not touching.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and the centre is cooked.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

While the oven is on for the chicken, roast your potatoes or other vegetables.

I like to roast my potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and white pepper, but use whatever oil and seasonings you prefer.

Flat mushrooms are beautiful for roasting, especially when they go soft and start to release their juices. Simply place mushrooms on a baking tray with a knob of butter and some crushed or finely chopped garlic and thyme on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until softened. The size of the mushrooms will influence how long they take to cook. Large field mushrooms can be a meal in themselves!

What To Eat When It's Super Hot!

If you happen to live in Melbourne, or anywhere in southern Australia at the moment, you'll know just how hot it is. A week of 40 degree temperatures is awful!

Like a lot of people, I don't tend to have much of an appetite when it's hot, but know that I need to eat. Nice easy foods with plenty of flavour are great. Simple to prepare, refreshing and light, they are the perfect way to fuel your body without leaving you too full or hot.

Despite the heat, this week has been the perfect opportunity to have a play with making salads a little bit more interesting. This version of chicken meatballs was delicious and so easy to make. The coriander with the chicken made the meatballs very light and the simple salad was refreshing. What really made it was the tahini dressing. Mixing the tahini with natural yogurt and orange juice gave it a lightness and freshness that really complemented the chicken.

I'll definitely be making this one again. Not only was it great on a night when the minimum was still in the 20's, but there was very little fuss and I could whip it up quickly without having to spend too much time in the kitchen. Rather than serving up the meal on a plate, I put the salad, meatballs and dressing on the table and let everyone help themselves.

You could equally serve this with some wraps or mountain bread and make DIY chicken and salad wraps for an easy lunch. The few left over meatballs were lovely in a sandwich with some dressing and lettuce the next day.

Chicken Meatball Salad With Tahini Dressing

500g chicken mince

3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

1/3 cup finely chopped coriander

3 Tbs sesame seeds

1 tsp chilli flakes (or more or less to taste)

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Salt to taste

Cos lettuce, torn

1 tomato, sliced into 8 wedges

A handful each of snow peas and sugar snap peas

50g Danish feta

1/2 cup tahini

Juice of 1 orange

2 Tbs natural yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

To make the meatballs, combine the mince, spring onions and coriander. 

Season to taste and combine well in a bowl.

Form into golf ball size meatballs and set aside on a tray.

In a small bowl, combine sesame seeds, chilli flakes, orange zest, white pepper and a pinch of salt.

One by one, roll meatballs in the seed mixture and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Cook the meatballs in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the salad and dressing.

For the dressing combine the tahini and yogurt in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Gradually add the orange juice, stirring well. It will thicken before it loosens. You want the dressing to have a drizzling consistency, so add more or less juice to suit. If it still seems too thick, add a little bit of water or more yoghurt. Season to taste and set aside.

For the salad, blanch the snow peas and sugar snap peas in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water. Allow to cool.

In a bowl, combine the torn lettuce leaves, tomato wedges, snow peas and sugar snap peas and chopped feta. Don't add the dressing just yet.

To serve, place some salad and a few meatballs on a plate and drizzle with the dressing. 

Lemongrass Chicken

A few weeks ago we dropped in to the Coburg Farmers Market, which runs on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month at the Coburg North Primary School. I'd been meaning to go for ages and was looking forward to trying and buying some delicious fresh produce.

We came away with bags of beautiful food and bellies full of delicious treats. There was amazing organic lamb and beef, local artisan chocolate and organic vegetables. Another of these treats was an amazing Lemongrass Paste, made by Under the Pickle Tree. It is a blend of lemongrass, onion, garlic and spices and is absolutely delicious! The recipe suggestion on the jar is to use it to marinate chicken, and that's exactly what I did. It would work fabulously with prawns or a firm fleshed white fish too. In fact, it's so good that you could eat it straight out of the jar on fresh bread!

To go with the Asian flavours of the paste, I thought I'd make a warm noodle salad, of sorts, using vermicelli noodles and some crisp vegies. The chicken was really the hero of the dish with its strong and bold flavours.

 

Lemongrass Chicken and Noodle Salad

2 chicken breasts, chopped into large chunks
2 Tbs Under the Pickle Tree Lemongrass Paste
Olive oil for cooking
100g rice vermicelli noodles
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin slices
1/2 a bunch of asparagus, woody ends snapped off, cut into 2cm pieces
A handful of snow peas, top and tailed and sliced into thin slices
1/2 a red capsicum, sliced into thin slices
A drizzle each of soy sauce, Kecap Manis and sweet chilli sauce, or to taste
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Marinate the chicken in the lemongrass paste for 1 hour in the fridge.
While the chicken is marinating, prepare the noodles and vegies.
Place the noodles in a heatproof bowl.
Cut all vegetables into thin slices and add to the bowl with the noodles.
Pour over boiling water until all the noodles and vegies are covered. Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then drain. Keep warm.
This will blanch the vegies to slightly start the cooking process, but ensure they are still crisp and fresh when you eat them. The noodles should be soft.
Toss the soy sauce, kecap manis and sweet chilli through the noodles, to your taste.
Toss through fresh coriander to serve.

For the chicken, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frypan over high heat.
Add the chicken and all the marinade and cook until the chicken is browned on the outside, but the middle is cooked. Don't over cook as you still want the meat to be juicy.

Serve the chicken and any pan juices over the top of the noodle salad.

And To Drink....

On a warmish Friday night in Spring, a Sauvignon Blanc was the perfect match to go with the lemongrass chicken. Not just any old sauv blanc, mind you! Claymore are a winery from the Clare Valley in South Australia, who also have vineyards in the Adelaide Hills. They have quirky names for all of their wines, using song or album titles, from U2 to Nirvana! This wine is a blend of fruit from Clare and the Adelaide Hills, which gives it a certain freshness.

Generally I'm not much of a fan of Sauvignon Blanc, particularly the New Zealand variety, which I find a bit too green and full on. I can handle them on a super hot summers day, but don't really want to sip on them with a nice meal. An Adelaide Hills wine, on the other hand is a different story. The wine is still dry, green and acidic, but not so strong. The flavours are a lot more mellow and go much better with food. Think green apple and passionfruit. This one was delicious!

Claymore are definitely worth looking out for, if you can find them. We have bought a number of bottles of their wine (cases in fact!) and have always enjoyed them, particularly the rose and the Riesling. They also make a great range of quaffing and special occasion reds and an interesting sparkling Riesling.

Boozey Chicken With Mushrooms

As the weather starts warming up and the days get progressively longer, it's nice to start thinking about all those dishes that go nicely with a crisp glass of white wine. Riesling would have to be one of my favourites. Perfect to drink on its own on a sunny day, sitting outside with a good book or foodie magazine, or to match with something tasty to eat.

This morning started off cold and gloomy, but turned into a beautiful sunny day. Perfect for wining and dining! The nights are still pretty chilly at the moment, so a warming dish is on the cards.
After flicking through some cook books during the week, I thought that a boozy chicken casserole was in order. Full of flavour, but light enough that when the weather is a little bit nicer, you don't feel too full.

Riesling and chicken are a perfect match. Add to that the flavour of slow cooked bacon, onion and mushrooms and you have a wonderful spring meal on the last night before daylight savings begins.

I currently have a fascination with green peas and ricotta, so this had to be paired with the chicken as a side dish. A simple combo of peas, ricotta, lemon rind and olive oil. Perfect to cut through the richness of the cream in the casserole. The only thing to make it better, a fresh baguette to mop up the sauce!

Chicken with Riesling and Mushrooms

4 skinless, boneless chicken marylands (or 8 thigh fillets)
A couple of drizzles of olive oil
1 large red onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g bacon, diced
200g swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
3 sprigs of thyme
1 cup Riesling (or other dry white wine)
1 cup chicken stock
150ml cream
Salt and pepper to taste
A handful of chopped parsley
A crusty baguette to serve

Trim chicken of obvious fat and cut into large chunks, roughly 3cm pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large saucepan and brown chicken in batches until seared on all sides. You don't want to crowd the pan, otherwise the chicken will stew, not brown.
Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Heat another drizzle of oil in the same pan and fry bacon and onion at a low heat until just beginning to soften. Add garlic for about a minute, until it is fragrant.
Add sliced mushrooms and thyme to the same pan and cook over moderate heat until the mushrooms start to release their juices.
Pour the wine in and let it sizzle away. Add the stock, stir to remove all the bits from the bottom of the pan, then return the chicken and any juices.
Cover, bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 mins.
After 30 mins remove the lid and cook for another 20 mins, allowing some of the liquid to evaporate.
Just before serving, stir through the cream, parsley and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
Serve with the crusty baguette and a glass or two of the Riesling :-)

 

Minty Ricotta Peas

150g frozen peas
50g ricotta
5 mint leaves, finely chopped
Finely grated rind of half a lemon
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook peas in boiling water for 2 minutes until soft. Drain.
Place in a bowl with crumbled ricotta, lemon rind and mint.
Drizzle over as much oil as you like and season with salt and pepper.
Done!

And To Drink....

 

The Riesling we had tonight is not one I am particularly familiar with. We were given it by a friend some time ago and it's been sitting in the wine rack looking sad and forlorn!
It's a Dinny Goonan 2011 Riesling from the Otway Coast in Southern Victoria. Having absolutely no idea what it was going to be like, I was surprised that it was so crisp and clean with a nice acidity, but also some sweetness. Amazing green apple on the nose, but a taste of stone fruits and honeysuckle.
It was delicious!
The wine matched perfectly with the chicken, the acidity cutting through the creaminess of the sauce. Definitely one I will be looking out for again and again!

Cold Weather Calls For Chicken Tagine

So much for that touch of early Spring weather! Today Melbourne was back into the grips of an icey blast and straight back to winter. As much as I don't like the cold, it's another chance to cook up a nice warming casserole.

Not wanting anything too heavy, I thought a chicken tagine would be perfect. Slow cooked until the meat falls off the bone, full of beautiful flavours to nourish your soul.

The orignial recipe for this dish was actually from The Age Saturday magazine, Good Weekend. I think it was a Neil Perry recipe. I've modified it a bit as it was meant to use duck, but I could only get frozen whole ducks when I went looking and didn't really fancy jointing the bird myself.

I think it would taste lovely with duck too, as you'd have the extra richness from the meat, but chicken worked fabulously. I used marylands and cut them into two pieces each, but you could equally use skinless, boneless pieces to make the eating a bit easier. Cooking on the bone gives so much more flavour, but it is messier.

The chermoula that you marinate everything in was easy to make and had such a beautiful flavour that it would go well as a marinade for any sort of meat. It would probably go with prawns or a firm fleshed fish too.

I served the tagine with Israeli couscous, which are the large balls of semolina. You could use regular couscous or even rice, but I love the texture of the Israeli variety. Instead of cooking the almonds in the tagine, you could even lightly toast them and sprinkle on top with the fresh herbs when serving.

I know it's a big call, but I think this was one of the best tagines I have ever eaten. Let me know if you agree!

Chicken, Olive and Date Tagine

For the chermoula: 

1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup coriander leaves and stalks, washed
2 cups parsley leaves and stalks, washed
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs ground coriander
1 Tbs ground chilli
1 Tbs ground turmeric
2 tsp sweet paprika
100ml extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon

Roughly chop the onion, garlic, coriander and parsley and combine in a food processor with salt and spices.
Process until combined and then slowly pour in oil and lemon juice. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed together.
You should have a thick, aromatic paste. Add a little more oil if needed.

For the Tagine:

3 chicken marylands
Chermoula as per above recipe
1 red onion, sliced into 8 wedges
2 carrots, cut into 4cm chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
A large handful of green beans
A handful of blanched almonds
2 Tbs honey
juice of 1 lemon
8 fresh dates, pitted
A handful of large green olives, pitted
Fresh coriander and parsley for serving
Couscous or rice for serving

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Chop chicken marylands in half to have a drumstick and thigh.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, onion, carrot, sweet potato, almonds and chermoula. Allow to sit for at least an hour to marinate.
In a tagine or large oven proof saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil and add the chicken mixture and marinade. Half cover with water and add honey and lemon juice.
Cover with the lid and bring to a gentle simmer, then transfer to the oven.
Bake for about an hour, then turn the chicken pieces to make sure they are cooking evenly.
Add the olives and dates and return to the oven for another 30 mins. By this stage the chicken should be falling off the bone and the dates should almost have dissolved into the sauce.
About 20 mins before you want to serve, add the beans and remove the lid to evaporate some of the liquid, if it's looking a bit too watery.
Cook the couscous or rice by your preferred method.
Serve the tagine over the couscous, sprinkled with extra chopped parsley and coriander.

And to drink.....

A beautiful dish with the amazing flavours of coriander, lemon and chilli and the sweetness of the dates and honey needs a wine with plenty of body, but also acidity. We had a couple of bottles of this 2004 Mount Pleasant 'Elizabeth' semillon in the cellar, and it was a great choice.

Served chilled, but not too cold, there was enough fruit flavour to match perfectly with the chicken. Being an aged wine, there was also a bit of butteriness. It went down way to easily!

Blood Oranges Part 2

 I love having fruit with chicken, particularly oranges or mango. In summer, I think we live on variations of warm chicken salad with mango.

Tonight I wanted to use some more of the beautiful blood oranges I had, and figured that chicken was the perfect match. I like my salads to have plenty of flavour and be nice and filling, especially when it's not the middle of summer and you still want a relatively hearty meal.

In my mind, nothing works better than pan fried chicken, sweet juicy orange, salty fried haloumi, toasted pinenuts, rocket and roasted sweet potato. That's exactly what we had! And it was delicious, even if I do say so myself :-)

This salad was very quick and easy to put together and doesn't really require any ability in the kitchen. If you can use an oven and a fry pan, then you can master this.

Make sure you don't over cook the chicken, because you still want it to be nice and juicy. The haloumi though, is best when it's nice and charred and golden.

Chicken, Blood Orange and Haloumi Salad

2 chicken breasts, sliced into tenderloin sized pieces
1 blood orange, segmented, juice reserved for dressing
100g haloumi cheese, sliced into 1/2cm slices
1 sweet potato, peeled, halved lengthways and sliced into 1cm pieces
A handful of toasted pine nuts
A few handfuls of mixed rocket and baby spinach (or mixed lettuce)
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Prepare sweet potato and mix with salt, pepper and oil to lightly coat and roast for 20 mins or so until cooked to your liking. Set aside to cool.
While the oven is on, place pinenuts in a small oven proof tin and toast until golden brown. Keep an eye on them as they can burn very easily.
Segment orange by cutting off the rind and pith with a sharp knife and then removing each segment into a bowl. Reserve the juices in the same bowl with the fruit, squeezing as much out as you can.
Heat a fry pan with oil on medium heat and when hot, add the chicken in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Fry on one side until golden, then turn to cook the other side. Make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through, but not overcooked and dry.
In a separate pan, heat a thin layer of oil until hot and fry the haloumi slices until golden and gooey. Flip with a spatula and cook the other side.
While the chicken and cheese are cooking, mix the sweet potato with the orange, rocket and pinenuts and drizzle with the reserved juice and a little olive oil to make a dressing.
Pile the salad on to dinner plates and artfully arrange the chicken and haloumi over the top.

Bon appetit!


A nice meal wouldn't be complete in my book without a glass of wine to go with it. We have no shortage of wine in this household, so there are plenty of drinking options to go with dinner. I'm also lucky enough that my brother in law's family have a vineyard on the Mornington Peninsula, called Five Walls, so local wine is often prominent on the table. Tonight we matched our chicken salad with a Pinot Noir. Normally I wouldn't have a red with chicken, but to go with the sweet acidity of the orange, the salty goodness of the cheese and the charred sweet potato, it was perfect. Lots of red berry and plummy flavours washed it all down a treat!