Sunday, February 19, 2006
Lemon Roast Chicken on Wild Mushrooms
The weather was miserable again on Tuesday; thick clouds hung in the sky making the whole day feel like a long November evening and heavy rain came pouring down most of the day. Even if I had not arrived back here wet from cycling, it was the kind of day that called for heart-warming comfort food. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated. A nice thick stew would have been perfect, but unfortunately I just didn't have the right ingredients. We opted for the next best thing, a roast chicken dinner. I like chicken. I know it's not a very exciting meat, nor is it anything special, but if it is cooked right, a good free-range chicken and some cupboard staples can be all I need to prepare the perfect dinner for any occasion. Chicken can do any nationality from American to Zambian and go with any accompaniment, hot or cold. It can be prepared quickly and easily or turned into an intricate dish, worthy of a master chef.Tonight I opted for the simplicity of the former, unfortunately combined with the work effort of the latter and made some lemon roast chicken on a bed of wild mushrooms. You have to be careful not to overdo the lemon, but if you get the seasoning right, the combination of soft, juicy mushrooms and a crispy roast chicken skin is always a winner.
For the chicken:I know, in the picture at the top it looks rather like the mess they try to sell you as a Sunday roast in bad pubs, but believe me, it tasted a whole lot better.
2 corn-fed or organic chicken pieces (such as legs and thighs or breasts)
½ lemon, quartered
½ onion, sliced lengthways
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled and lightly crushed
a few springs each of thyme and rosemary (alternatively a bit of dried thyme and a few crushed dried rosemary needles)
4 bay leaves
4 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
For the sauce:
100 ml medium sherry (Madeira, port or Marsala wine are also OK, but not as good)
250 ml chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
½ tsp fresh thyme leaves
½ tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
25 g butter
250 g wild mushrooms (obviously ordinary button mushrooms can be used, but you might want to add some dried wild mushrooms for the flavour)
salt
4 good handfuls of baby kale or savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
a pinch of nutmeg
mashed potatoes for 2
(I also added a carrot and sweetcorn mix, but that was more because it needed to go)
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a roasting tin in the oven. Place the chicken pieces, skin side down, in the tin and roast for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over, tuck the lemon, onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves in around it and continue to roast for another 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius, and roast for another 40 minutes or until the skin is crispy and the juices run clear.
In the meantime, heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a high heat, add the mushrooms and fry for 3-4 minutes. Season to taste with salt, then tip onto a roasting tray (unless you are using an ovenproof pan, in which case you can just set them aside). Remove the chicken from the oven, and place the meat and the garlic in the roasting tray with the mushrooms. Return t
o the oven for another 10 minutes. Discard the lemon pieces, herbs and any burnt onions.
To make the sauce, pour the fat from the roasting pan and deglaze the pan with Madeira or port. Tip the juices into a saucepan and add the stock. Boil until reduced by half. When you are ready to serve, whisk in the butter and herbs. Season to taste.
At the same time, get the kale/cabbage ready. Heat a frying pan until hot. Add butter and the cabbage. Stir fry until wilted season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Christine at 4:42 pm
