Chicken with Girolles, Sherry and Butter Beans

A Seasonal Supper for September (that is also a one pot wonder)

OH HI THERE and welcome to the newest paid feature of The Dinner Party - A Seasonal Supper. Every month I will be sharing a dinner for 2 (with leftovers of course) that celebrates an ingredient at its very best. Thanks so much as ever for supporting The Dinner Party, it is only through you guys that I am able to produce any content at all.

I get so much joy from the onset of a new season. After a hot couple of weeks here in the UK, it finally feels like Autumn is upon us now and I am thrilled, because With it comes a huge bounty of joy that I cannot wait to sink my teeth into. For that, September felt like the perfect time to launch this little project.

Weeknight dinners are often where I find my inspiration is the most challenged. Yes, sometimes even us chefs would rather have a plate of fish fingers and smiley faces than having to dream up something different every night of the week. I do find that if I use the seasons as my guide (which we should all be doing anyway not least for sustainability) then my parameters are narrowed enough to inspire. I have alluded to this before in The "Power of Three" One - I am actually better at creating when I am faced with restriction. So I tend to focus on three or four ingredients which I would like to use and go from there. If you then introduce the necessity for one of those to be perfectly in season, you have a juicy little problem to solve, so to speak. Suddenly my mind is full of ideas - I am alight with possibility and ready to cook.

So as usual at the beginning of the month I checked my talented friend Emma’s handy and beautiful illustration above about all the good stuff in season (keep an eye out for her stunning calendars, available for pre-order from October).

I decided to start with one of my all time favourite species - mushrooms, specifically Girolles, also known as chanterelles. These wild mushrooms are bright orange with a deeply nutty and sweet flavour in comparison to your average chestnut mushroom. Like most fungi they are absolutely amazing vehicles for fat (butter, chicken schmaltz, bacon) and strong flavours. However thanks to their honeyed sweetness they also go really well with fish and seafood, acting as a brilliant foil to briny intensity.