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    Sunday, February 21, 2016

    Roast Chicken on a Bed of Greens with Yummy Potatoes

    Keeping on with the chicken theme of this week
    It was our Granddaughter’s 14th Birthday and Grandma was on dinner duty
    A chicken dinner seemed to tick all of the boxes

    Amongst recipes I have saved over the years, I found this idea from Angela Hartnett,
    a British Chef I really admire
    This is a dish that can be eaten at room temperature

    Potatoes with Chicken, sitting on a salad of Green Beans, Leeks and Red Pepper
     Very pretty and particularly tasty

    Crispy skin, was not important on the chicken this time, just wanted lovely juicy breasts
    But I left the skin on, to self baste the breasts
    Removed it for serving
    Perfect
    So prepare the Salad first

    600g/1lb 5oz green beans
    16 baby leeks

    ½ tsp Dijon mustard
    50ml/2fl oz cider vinegar
    250ml/9fl oz olive oil
    2 banana shallots, finely chopped
    2 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
    4 tsp finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

    1 red pepper chopped

    Place a large pan of salted water over a high heat and bring to the boil.
    Add the beans and leeks and cook for 2-3 minutes,
    then drain and refresh in iced water.
     Place the mustard, vinegar and 250ml/9fl oz olive oil into a bowl and whisk to
     combine.
    Slice the beans and leeks into three on the diagonal and add to the dressing.
    Add the shallots, tarragon, parsley and red pepper
    Then season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
    Set aside

    Now the Chicken 
    4 large chicken breasts, skin on
    Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

    Method
    Preheat the oven to 180C
    Season the chicken breasts, both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
    Into a roasting pan and into the oven for about 12 minutes
    Remove and test with a skewer or sharp small life
    Just push it half way through the breast
    Hold for 10 seconds
    Remove
    Put it to your lips, it should be hot
    And the juice should run clear
    If not quite done… back into the oven for another 3 minutes
    Remove and set aside to rest for a few minutes

    Drain the salad, keep the dressing
    Slice each breast into 4 pieces and place into the dressing that is drained
    from the salad
    Lay out the salad on a large serving platter
    Place the dressed chicken slices on top

    Pour any remaining juices over the top
    Done

    Trishie’s Potatoes
    Now you can make this in advance, in fact the more ahead, the better
    Get those flavours infused

    Take 4 large Potatoes peel and chopped into medium cubes
    Bring to the boil in salted water and simmer till they are almost cooked
    Drain and pop into a oven dish
    1 packet of French Onion Soup Mix or  in this case I used this
    Roast Garlic with Tarragon Flavouring, which worked in very well with the tarragon flavour in the chicken
    Plus 200 ms cream

    Sprinkle the potatoes with the soup mix,
    Season with a little salt and pepper
    Funnily enough the French Onion soup mix is not overly salty
    so it needs some extra seasoning
    Pour the cream over
    Toss well and cover
    Let sit for at least an hour or even longer
    so that the potatoes can absorb those flavours and the cream

    Pre-heat oven to 200C
    Cook till cream is absorbed and potatoes are golden and crispy
    Probably take about 30 minutes
    Season with a little extra salt and pepper

    Once again. you can do this earlier and just pop back into a hot oven for 5-10 minutes,
    Just to heat through

    Serve
    Here is our beautiful Mia singing at her Granddad's funeral just 3 weeks ago
    So proud of her
    Cheers Mia, Happy birthday


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