MORE PLEASE - CHICKEN DINNERS

Chicken Kyiv, Roast Chicken Piccata and Chicken Scarpariello

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This final February episode is all about old faithful, the original white meat, chicken. Chicken is a deceptively tricky thing to cook. Given its lean, delicate meat it can be easy to overcook and dry out, especially with the hysterical and protectionist cooking times given in some recipes. Don’t get me wrong, food poisoning is serious and I am genuinely quite paranoid about it, but chicken is safe to eat (and better) when it is, like most other lean meat, taken out just before it’s done and left to rest. So today we are taking this approach, as well as employing other handy techniques like dry brining, braising and spatchcocking.

I am inordinately proud of all three recipes today, so utterly delicious they are. But, if I had to pick one, it would be Chicken Scarpariello. An Italian-American dish from the tri-state area, this is a blinder of a recipe. Chicken pieces (thighs, drumsticks, or whole legs) are gently braised with Italian sausage in a sauce made from white wine and hot and sweet pickled peppers (chillies, really). The acidity and spice of the sauce is tempered by the savoury, meaty flavours and a good amount of butter at the end. The whole lot is served on top of garlicky toasted bread which soaks up all the juices. My fiancé, who has eaten 100% of the 250+ dishes I have made for this newsletter, said it was the best thing I’ve ever cooked him.

Another Italian-American chicken dish that is classic and delicious is Chicken Piccata. The traditional version involves chicken escalopes that are dusted in flour, fried in butter and then served with a pan sauce made from their juices, lemon, white wine, garlic, shallots and capers. The principles of this sauce are very similar to a normal gravy and that’s when it occurred to me - this would be so good on Roast Chicken. So, Roast Chicken Piccata was born. I’m giving you my top tips for perfectly moist roast chicken and how to make a flavourful, sumptuous Piccata sauce from the juices, with very little fuss.

Finally we have something a little more complex but utterly divine - The Chicken Kyiv. These take a bit of time and patience, but are so unbelievably satisfying to make and serve, plus they reheat remarkably well. When I worked as a line cook, my favourite day-off meal was an M&S chicken kiev with peas and half a jar of mayo. Something about that crisp yet tender chicken breast gushing with molten garlic butter made me forget all of my troubles and post service PTSD.

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