Pan seared chicken with red wine & mushrooms

Image courtesy of blog.water2wine.com

A very simple dish that focuses primarily on flavour from our sauce which is made primarily from mushroom and red wine reduction. It does take a bit of time to make the sauce, but ideally no longer than the chicken takes to cook, so it can be preapred all in one go.

I've left accompaniments absent as its quite a generic dish you can serve pretty much what you like with it. I would however reccomend mash or champ potatoes, and some root vegetables such as carrots, celeriac etc.

This recipe concentrates on doing the chicken in one pan and cooking in the oven, and using a seperate pan for the sauce. There is however nothing stopping you from doing it all in the one pan and not using the oven at all. Its up to you really. If you have a big enough pan, then go for it.

Ingredients
(serves 2)

2 Chicken breasts (skin on with wing bone) or 4 chicken thighs (deboned and skin on)
3 rashers smoked bacon (2 intact one chopped to 1cm square)
150g chopped muchrooms. (Ill leave the choice up to you but a mix of wild and closed cup works for me.)
6 shallots or 2 small onions (chopped to a 1cm dice)
Tsp tomato puree (optional)
Red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar (3 tbsp)
Glass and a half of red wine or port
250ml chicken stock
3 cloves crushed garlic
Generous handful of rosemary & thyme
tsp demerera sugar
Salt & pepper
tbsp butter

250 ml chicken stock

Chicken

Place one rasher of bacon under the skin of each chicken breast or 1.2 of a rasher under the skin of each thigh. Add some of the herbs int he same fashion (when stripped from the stem).

Sear the chicken in a pan skin side down. When coloured flip over and repeat for underside, then put on tray or in pan in the oven at 170C until cooked. This should give you enough time to cook the sauce.

For the sauce

In a saucepan saute onions / shallots,  chopped bacon and mushrooms until coloured, then add garlic. When they all begin to soften, Add the herbs, then add the vinegar and sugar until a syrup forms, (you can add the optional tomato puree at this point) then add the wine and reduce by half. Add the stock and reduce by half once again. When the sauce has reduced enough that it tastes to yourliking, fold in a little bit of butterand keep it moving to finish the sauce.

Garlic buttered chicken kiev with almond roast potatoes, mushroom fricasse & mangetout

Usually we would serve kiev as a late summer dish with roated tomatoes saute potatoes etc. But this late autumn dish incorporates a more earthy and hearty approach. The garlic providing a wondeful savoury tone, sweetness from the almond roasted poatoes, a creamy texture and earthy flavour from the mushroom fricasse, and definite crunch and bite from the mangetout.

Its quite filling, but will leave you wonderfully satisfied and with room for a dessert if you wish.

I cooked this a couple of weeks ago and it went down a storm :)

Ingredients

For the kiev

(makes 1)

tsp garlic butter
1 chicken fillet with small underside fillet still attached
soft white breadcrumbs
flour and beaten egg (for breading)
mixed herbs & salt & pepper

For the roast potatoes (serves 4)

4 large baking poatoes peeled and chopped into same sizes (for roasting)
flour & beaten egg (use above from chicken if need be)
ground or flaked almonds (ground are better but its up to you)
olive oil & salt & pepper

for the mushroom fricasse (serves 4)

150g Large Onion, finely chopped
150g of Wild Mushrooms, trimmed
150g of Button Mushrooms
100ml of White Wine
125ml of Double Cream
125ml of Dry Sherry Reduced by 2/3
10g of Chopped Tarragon
Parmesan shavings to taste

Preparation

Kiev:

add salt & pepper ans herbs to breadcrumbs and set aside.

Trim off the underside fillet from the breast and flatten out with a tenderiser or rolling pin. wrap the garlic butter in the small flattened piece. cut a pocket in the underside of the breast and tuck in the parcel. Coat breast in flour, then egg then seasoned breadcrumbs. Reapeat as necessary for other breasts then lightly oil a frying pan and sear both sides of kiev until coloured. Place on baking tray then add to preheated oven at 200C until cooked.

Potatoes:

Place the potatoes in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer until potatoes begin to soften. Remove from heat, strain and allow to cool slightly.Preheat oven to 200C then coat with oil,flour then egg, then the ground almonds and set in an oiled oven tray for roasting. lPace in oven and turn regularly for even cooking.

Fricasse:

Sauté off the onion with the mushrooms till tender, add the wine and cream and reduce till thick add the sherry and reduce till a thick coating consistency. Finish with tarragon and parmesan shavings.

Mangetout:

Drop into salted boiling water 2 mins before serving.

Assemble in the following order: fricasse, potatoes on the oustide spaced evenly, mangetout on fricasse, kiev on top.

Serve & devour.

Spiced Plum Chicken

This recipe combines oriental flavours and sweetness with a hearty rich approach for autumn and winter or even late spring. Considering my current love for all things sweet and spicy, I've included this dish as a pneumonicYou can substitute the noodles for rice or pasta if you wish, along with broccoli, asparagus, or chicory for the pak choi. Feel free to include mushroom,s bamboo shoots or water chesnuts for further enjoyment. Make it work for you.

(Serves 10 so divide by two for a family sized batch)

10 Chicken Supremes

4 Tablespoons of Chinese Five Spice

Olive Oil

1.25 Plum Victoria

Freshly grated nutmeg

100g of Caster sugar

400ml of Dry fino sherry

400ml of Chicken stock

Honey to taste

Seasoning

Mix together the five spice and some olive oil, this is to be rubbed on to the chicken breast prior to the chicken been sautéed. About 2 hours should be allowed for the marinade. Although the general rule is, the longer the better.

The sauce

Stone the plums then divide the plums into two lots, one half to be roast in a hot oven for 15 minutes in a deep roasting tray

Then add the stock and sherry and cook for a further 30 minutes check that the sauce is not getting to dry

Blend the sauce using a stick blender or food processor.

The other half of the plums, on a baking tray which has been pre oiled, season the plums with little sugar and nutmeg, place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes

Serve with steamed pak choi and egg noodles

Let put this together

In a pasta bowl place in the centre the well drained noodles and on one half the steamed pak choi

Carve the chicken breast into a fan, place on top and to one side of the noodles

Run the sauce around the noodle at its base

Garnish with three roast plum halves. Devour.

  

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Pan seared chicken with mixed bean cassoulet

Image courtesy of ptcfoods.com

This recipe is wonderful and hearty, and can be served year round for a filling dish. I do however favour eating this in the late autumn through spring. It is ideal for those cold days when you want to come home to a hearty warm and filling dish. It does take a bit of time, but you can make the cassoulet and freeze it in portions for later reheating. The rest is pretty much plain sailing. With this in mind you can have this ready inside 20 minutes, if the cassoulet is ready to go.

Posted at the request for James Crown, who required a hearty cassoulet dish.I hope it fits the bill :).

(serves 2-4)
150g OF Haricot beans
150g of Red Kidney beans
150g of Black eye beans
150g of Butter beans

All these to be soaked for 2 hours before cooking, drained then covered in fresh water seasoned cook for about 5 minutes then allowed to stand in this water for 30 minutes, then drain.

100g of smoked bacon or pancetta bacon
1 onion scored and studded with cloves (about 3)
1 Carrots diced
1/2 stick of celery stringed and diced
5 peppercorns tied in muslin
Fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic
1L  or roughly 2 pints of chicken stock
100g of chorizo sausage
Tomato puree to thicken

Place all the above ingredients into a pan omitting the chorizo sausage and simmer for about 11/2 hours.

Once cooked remove the onions and the peppercorns

For 1 serving:

Season the chicken and seal in a hot pan and finish in the oven

Reheat the cassoulet and add the chorizo sausage.

Serve in a pasta bowl with the chicken on top,

Finish with potato dish of choice

Smoked Salmon Risotto

Image provided courtesy of the bbc good food website

Smoked salmon is an interesting ingredient as it adds unexpected depth and dimension in terms of flavour, has a good hit of protein and is also rich in electrolytes, omega 3 oils and other benefical bells and whistles on the nutrition scale.If you're not a fan of smoked fish then by all means use conventional salmon. The best thing about smoked salmon is that for dishes liek this you cna buy smoked salmon trimmings (which are a good deal cheaper also.

Its exceptionally good from late autumn to spring as it provides a hearty meal in those colder months.

This recipe makes about 10 servings, which is good if you're feeding a large family. it also means you can store some of it and reheat it at a later point, makes a convenient lunch to take to work or wherever else also. Feel free to add other punchy ingredients such as lemon zest, herbs such as dill, fennel, tarragon, rosemary or even sage for added punch.

Ingredients


2 Onions finely diced
1 leek white flesh only finely sliced
4 cloves of garlic crushed
4 tablespoons of olive oil
700g of Arborio rice
500ml of white wine
1500ml of fish stock boiling
Seasoning
400g of Smoked Salmon sliced
A punch of parmesan shavings

Preparation:

In a heavy based pan sauté off the onions, leeks and garlic sweat but do not colour too much

Add the rice stir in and wait for the rice to start cracking

Add the liquid little by little stirring frequently until all the liquid has been absorbed

The rice such still have a bite about it and not soft

Remove from the heat and just prior to serving fold in the smoked salmon and parmesan .