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.

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!