Chicken licken good
Chicken, celery, broccoli and almond stir-fry. Photo: Fiona Feasey
Chicken is still one of life’s great convenience foods. Quick and easy, lean and bursting with protein, it ticks all the right boxes. Buying a skin-off breast means that there is absolutely no wastage, so value for money makes it attractive too. If you like to eat the skin all crispy and golden, then it’s a great natural protector that stops the meat from drying out while providing extra flavour and a perfect pocket for pesto or herbed ricotta or any manner of other treats. This takes an ordinary chicken breast to dinner-party level, especially if your prestuffed beauty is then wrapped in strips of bacon and roasted.
As the food philosopher Brillat-Savarin said, “Poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter”. If you are in a hurry and want to roast a chicken, it’s easy to snip out the backbone (a pair of poultry shears helps) and spatchcock the chicken (turn the chicken over and press down on the breastbone to flatten). Some lemon juice, a splash of olive oil, generous sprinklings of both sea salt and pepper and a rosemary stalk stripped of its leaves will take as long to prepare as it takes for the oven to heat up. Place the chicken in the roasting dish into the oven and baste often until cooked and golden. This is perfect with some roasted potatoes and a green salad, with just a spoonful of the cooking juices drizzled over the salad.
Oh…and if you have the inclination, you can make a light stock from the carcass the following day. There is nothing quite as warming as a chicken and leek soup in the middle of winter.
Many chicken dishes can be prepared beforehand and then quickly finished off at the last minute. Marinate chicken legs in a mixture of soy sauce, honey and lemon juice in the morning and then roast them when you get home. Or slice a breast into strips and mix with a packet of Mexican fajita seasoning before you head off to work, then in the evening stir-fry and serve them in warm tortillas with lettuce and grated cheese.
Chicken seems to go well with almost any other flavour. Whether it’s leeks, bacon or mushrooms that you have sitting in the fridge, or chickpeas, rice or pasta that you have in the cupboard, or thyme, chilli or oregano that you have in the herb pot on the windowsill, you can always have a meal in minutes if necessary.
The following stir-fry recipe can be adapted to suit the season and the availability of fresh local vegetables. Green beans or sliced zucchini are good in the summer, whereas broccoli, spinach leaves or sliced Brussels sprouts are more suitable at this time of the year. The almonds add extra crunch, but could be replaced by roasted cashews or peanuts. Serve this stir-fry with steamed rice. Make twice the quantity, then you have enough left over for a fried rice dinner the next night. If you use gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce then your meal is less allergenic and high in protein.
Chicken, celery, broccoli and almond stir-fry
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
500g chicken breasts, skin removed, cut into strips
2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
1 tablespoon of water
2 teaspoons of sambal oelek (or use minced chilli)
1 onion, sliced
4 celery stalks, sliced on the diagonal
250g broccoli, broken into small florets and blanched
¼ cup of toasted almonds
Fresh coriander or Italian parsley, chopped, to garnish
3 cups of steamed rice
Heat half the oil in a large frying pan or wok over high heat. Stir-fry the chicken in batches for a few minutes or until golden. Remove the chicken to a plate using a slotted spoon, and add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the wok. To this add the onion and toss for a minute. Now add the celery, broccoli, almonds, soy sauce and chilli. Stir and cook for a minute before returning the chicken to the wok. Toss all together and cook till the chicken has heated through. Season well with salt and pepper. Either serve over rice, sprinkled with coriander, or in a separate dish so everyone can help themselves.
Now, if you are going to roast or grill a chicken, then why not do two? Having a cooked chicken in the fridge is just as versatile as having a hot one on a platter. Add it to wraps or sandwiches for school lunchboxes, chop and add to a tarragon-infused white sauce and make it into a pie, add the pickings from the bones to that leek soup, or in the summer add slices to a Caesar salad, or blueberry and brie salad.
Fiona Feasey
