Chicken Jalfrezi

About once a fortnight, we indulge in Indian food. There is an Indian restaurant - possibly more than one - here in Pisa, but we've been firmly warned off going there by the Paoli, who know of what they speak when it comes to Indian food. And so, the only option is to roll up one's sleeves and get on with preparing it oneself. I have several reliable books by Madhur Jaffrey (The Ultimate Curry Bible, in particular, is extremely good), but her recipes tend to be quite esoteric, and are certainly not reminiscent of all those many years of cheap-and-cheerful Indian  restaurants over the decades (from student dives onwards) which are occasionally what one hankers after. Chicken Jalfrezi has long been a favourite,  from the period after my earliest experiences of Indian food, when it was generally a question of choosing Madras or Vindaloo, with an option of Hot, Medium Hot, or Very Hot (depending on how many spoonfuls of curry power the kitchen had stirred into the mixture, just before serving).
This version of Chicken Jalfrezi is largely taken from The Thousand Best Indian Recipes, with the difference that butter is used instead of oil, for a much 'creamier' result, and the meat used is thigh rather than breast meat, since it remains more succulent after cooking.If you're being energetic, you can combine it with Aloo Ghobi, but in general I serve it just with plain basmati rice.

For Two.

Ingredients: 2 tbs butter; 1 medium onion, finely chopped; 2 cloves garlic, pressed; half a green chili, de-seeded and finely chopped; approx 3 cm fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped; meat cut from three chicken thighs, diced into approx 2 cm cubes; 2 tsp curry powder; quarter tsp salt; 1 tsp tomato paste; 120 ml water; half a red pepper.

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a heavy pan, add the onion, garlic and chili, and cook for about four minutes, until the onion has wilted.

2. Add curry powder, salt and tomato paste, and stir over heat for about 30 seconds.

3. Add the diced chicken, and cook stirring constantly for about three minutes, until the chicken looks cooked.

4. Add the water, bring just to the boil, then lower the heat so that the mixture just simmers for about  five minutes.

5. Add grated ginger and chopped pepper, and cook for a further minute.

Either serve immediately, or else keep warm over a gentle heat for five or ten minutes (but ensure that it doesn't get too thick in the process).

Poulet au Vin Jaune

is the name this dish would go by, if I hadn't, in cavalier fashion, changed two of the three central ingredients from the original version. One from the early days of Nico Ladenis, you would have to be either extremely rich or merely deeply stupid were you to follow the recipe as NL describes it (and, what's more, insists that it should be made whilst respecting without question the ingredients as listed). Vin Jaune, an obscure wine from the Jura, retails at around £110 a bottle, these days, and morels - even dried - can rarely be found for less than around £25 for a small jar. Forget it! A perfectly serviceable Gewurtztraminer and a handful of dried porcini work quite acceptably, and all without venturing into the territory of a second mortgage*. For obvious reasons, I can't state precisely to what extent these variations take the end result away from what Mr Ladenis had in mind, but this dish is extremely good as described, and has the advantage of leaving plenty of excellent sauce for other and subsequent uses. The first time I tried the dish was several days before I was responsible for the main course as part of our Masterchef Weekend 2014, and I used the leftover sauce to very good effect on spit-roast rabbit wrapped in prosciutto, which had been stuffed with pancetta and fennel seed. And the reason I'm prompted to post it now is because a variation on the same rabbit recipe (except this time, also stuffed inside a suckling pig) will be taking centre-stage for Christmas dinner, later this week. That being so, and with 'programmed eating' in mind, we'll be having Poulet au Gewurztraminer tomorrow evening....and leaving plenty of sauce at the end!

* since first writing this...I have found the source of this recipe, from which NL originally took it - a book edited by Francis Amanutegui, published in 1970; the author is much less inflexible than NL, and states that in the absence of 'Vin Jaune' 'any dry white wine will do'...  

For Four.

Ingredients: 1 chicken, cut into eight pieces: generous handful of dried porcini; 8 oz butter; half a pint Gewurztraminer; 1 pint cream; flour (to sift); seasoning (to taste)

Method:

1. Generously cover the porcini with boiling water and leave to sit for forty minutes or so; then, strain the mushrooms from the soaking liquid, and filter the soaking liquid through kitchen paper. Retain the strained liquid and the porcini. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy ovenproof casserole. Dredge the chicken pieces with flour, and season them with salt and pepper. Sauté the chicken in the butter, enough that they lose their raw appearance, but try to avoid letting them brown.

3. Ensure all the pieces are in one layer in the casserole; cover it, and place into the oven, for about twenty minutes. At the end of this time, drain as much of the melted butter as you can from the pan.

4. Put the casserole back on the hob, without lid, and add to it the mushrooms and their soaking liquid (perhaps half a cup of the liquid, not more). Over medium heat, add to this the wine and the cream, and cook at a gentle simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly to become uniformly velvet in texture. Serve as soon as possible once the sauce has reached this point - if left to sit while you get through other courses, it might risk misbehaving!

Recipe: Cumin & Olive sauce for Magrets de Canard

Adapted from a recipe of Bruno Loubet, this sauce is excellent with duck breasts which have been very simply grilled (trim the fat from the breasts and 'slash' the remaining skin, then coat lightly in oil, season well, and grill for six minutes skinside, a further five minutes on the other side, and then allow to rest for two minutes before slicing to serve). The sauce is delicious, with lots going on in terms of flavour, and it marries well with the flavour and texture of the duck meat. As a vegetable to accompany this dish, caramelised onions work well.

For enough sauce for two servings:

Ingredients: 1 carrot, finely diced; 1 stick of celery, finely diced; 1 small onion, finely diced; 1 oz Butter; 1 tbs Oil; 3 tbs Honey; 2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar; 1 tbs light Soy Sauce; 1 Bayleaf; 1 clove Garlic, minced; approx 1 pint good Stock (Chicken, or Duck, or Guinea Fowl is perfect); generous pinch of Cumin; half a dozen stoneless Green Olives, finely diced; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Heat the Butter and Oil in a medium sized pan, then sauté the Carrot, Celery and Onion until the vegetables have collapsed and just begin to colour (about five minutes, over medium heat).

2. Add the Honey, Vinegar, and Soy Sauce to the pan, along with the Bayleaf and Garlic. Stir to incorporate, then add the Stock. Bring briefly to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour.

3. Strain the contents of the pan into a bowl (discard the diced vegetables at this point) and return the sauce to the pan. Over medium heat, reduce the sauce by about two thirds, then add the Cumin and stir.

4. At this point, set the sauce aside until you start to grill the duck breasts. When you do, re-heat the sauce, and carefully continue to reduce it until it is a rich, coating consistency, at which point add the diced Olives and keep warm until the duck breasts have been sliced and plated. A generous spoonful of sauce for each serving, and that's it.

Recipe: Pollo Tonnato

A poor man's version of vitello tonnato, I'm not sure which came first. Certainly, Artusi included pollo tonnato when he was writing in the 1890's, and it wouldn't surprise me if the better-known version using veal wasn't a later gentrification of an essentially peasant dish. Excellent for a summer lunch, or supper - we had it last Saturday, when some of the Belforte crowd arrived for lunch in the garden, and there were sufficient leftovers again for supper on Sunday. Obviously, the chicken needs to be cooked the previous day, to give it enough time to cool down properly; apart from that, the process is very straightforward, and takes very little time actually in the kitchen.

I served braised lettuce as the vegetable to go with the chicken, and used the reduced poaching liquid (and vegetables) from the chicken to go with the lettuces once they'd been blanched and halved and were ready to go into the oven. It worked excellently, saved much time, and meant there was absolutely no waste. Alternatively, you could strain the liquid and use it for another meal in a risotto or a soup in place of stock.

For six.

Ingredients: 1 large chicken (or 2 small ones, as I used last week - currently, there don't seem to be any chickens of decent size available here) - preferable if you remove the wishbone at this stage, as it makes carving that much easier later on; 2 carrots, peeled; 1 onion, peeled; 2 sticks celery; 1 small (approx 8 oz) tin of tomato; 10 fl oz white wine; 5 peppercorns; 2 tsp salt; a handful of parsley; 2 egg yolks; approx 10 fl oz olive oil; 4 tbs lemon juice; 4 oz canned tuna; 3 anchovy fillets; 2 tbs capers.

Method:

1. In 2 tbs of the oil, heated in a large casserole, sauté the finely diced onion, carrots and celery, until they have completely collapsed (about ten minutes over medium heat). Add the tomato, parsley and wine, and bring to the boil. Add the chicken(s) to the casserole, add seasoning, and cover with water. Bring the liquid to the boil, and then simmer, partially covered for an hour.

2. Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid, and allow to cool completely (overnight, and in the fridge is best). Boil the poaching liquid down until you have about a litre left, and use it as suggested above.

4. With the remaining olive oil and the egg yolks make a mayonnaise, and add to it 1 tbs of the lemon juice.

5. Process the tuna, anchovies, and half of the capers, along with the remaining lemon juice; fold this mixture into the mayonnaise, along with the remaining capers. Check and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

6. Cut the chicken into serving pieces (breasts sliced, and legs cut into thighs and drumsticks), and put half of them in the base of a serving dish; cover with half the tuna mixture, and then repeat. Refrigerate until serving...preferably for at least a couple of hours, to allow the flavours to do their thing.

Serve.

Recipe: Duck Breast with Lentils

A re-working of a Paula Wolfert recipe from about forty years ago, the original version used an entire jointed duck, the pieces of which were braised in liquid over a couple of hours - at some times with the associated lentils, and at others on their own. The duck in question must have been of a serious age, as the ducklings generally available these days won't stand up to such treatment (or if they do stand up to it, they certainly don't benefit from it, and the end result is tough as old boots...and certainly won't repay the effort of all that time hovering over the stove).

This version, instead, combines Wolfert's delicious lentil treatment with a sliced duck breast, which has been lightly grilled, in a dressing of garlic, thyme and bay. The quantities given here for the lentils are probably much more than needed for one dinner - but the leftovers keep and re-heat well...and are excellent either as the base for a poached egg, as a starter, or else as the accompaniment to something like roast pork.

I've included all the 'duck stuff' in this recipe, on the assumption that you'll have taken the duck breast from a bird which you've boned and cut up, and therefore will have to-hand duck fat and duck stock; if not, then substitute a mixture of butter and oil for the duck fat, and use any decent stock in place of duck stock.

For two:

Ingredients: 1 or 2 Duck Breasts (depending upon the size of the bird and the appetite of the diners); 1 tbs Olive Oil; 1 large Garlic clove, minced; half a tsp dried Thyme; 1 large dried Bay leaf, crumbled; salt & pepper, to taste.
250g Lentils (soaked overnight, if using that sort; personally, I never use the pre-soaked ones these days) ; half a medium Onion; 1 small stick of Celery; 1 medium Carrot, peeled; 2 tbs Duck fat; 1 cup White Wine; 2 cups Water; 2 tbs Tomato paste.

Method:
1. Smear the Duck Breast(s) evenly with Oil, Garlic, Thyme, Bay leaf and seasonings. Put to one side, while you cook the Lentils.
2. Melt the Duck fat in a pan, and in it sauté the finely diced vegetables for ten minutes or so, stirring frequently, until they have obviously collapsed.
3. Add the Wine and Water, along with the Tomato Concentrate, and stir well to mix everything together. Add the Lentils; stir again, then bring the mixture to the boil, and then cook at a high simmer until done, which should take 35-40 minutes. When cooked, check and adjust the seasoning. Set aside and keep warm until you're ready to serve.
4. Under a hot grill - at a distance of about three inches - cook the breast(s), about six minutes with the fat-side up, and a further four minutes after you've turned them over. Leave them to rest afterwards for two minutes, to allow the flesh to firm up.
5. Slice the breast(s) finely, and serve along with the Lentils on heated plates.

Recipe: Boned Quail with Juniper

An amalgamation from some of my favourite sources, this recipe is effectively Paul Bocuse (for the bird, boned, stuffed under its skin, and roast) meets Bruno Loubet (for the sauce using quail stock, mixed with soy and verjus) meets Paula Wolfert (for the juniper berries, coriander seed, and sage as flavour elements in the stuffing, and the idea of green grapes, which I've translated into verjus instead, and used in the sauce).

The only tricky bit is boning the quail. The process is exactly the same as for boning chicken, but made slightly more complicated because of the size of the birds; make sure you have a very sharp, small knife, and don't become impatient along the way and start to snap the bones rather than working round them with the point of the knife. Once you've completed the first one, it goes quite quickly.

Excellent for a dinner party, as the entire dish can be done in advance, and the birds are then roast at the last minute and kept warm as you deal with the first course. This dish presents well, with a complete bird per serving, on top - for example - of a crisp and delicious potato galette.

For two.

Ingredients: 2 Quail; 1 large Shallot, finely chopped; 4 Sage leaves, finely chopped; 5 Juniper berries and 6 Coriander seeds, either crushed together with pestle & mortar, or else ground in an electric grinder; 1 oz Butter; Salt & Pepper; 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce; 20 green, seedless Grapes, whizzed in the processor, and then sieved, to give 4 or 5 tablespoons of Verjus.

Method:

1. Following the procedure for boning a chicken, remove the rib cages from the Quail (don't bother about the wing and leg bones - life's too short!). Put the rib cages in a small saucepan, cover with water and simmer for half an hour or so to make some stock.

2. Combine the Butter, crushed spices, chopped Shallot and Sage, and seasoning. Divide this mixture in two, and use it to stuff the Quail under their skins. Leave a little of the mixture to press as a poultice on top of each bird, as this will effectively baste the Quail as it roasts, and should produce a nice crisp skin. Put the birds aside until it's time to roast them.

3. Carry on gently reducing the stock until you have about half a cup of liquid. Set this aside until you're ready to roast the birds.

4. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C, then - about ten minutes before you're ready to sit - put the prepared Quail in the oven. Bring the reserved stock to a simmer, then add to it the Soy Sauce and Verjus; continue to simmer this mixture until it is starting to thicken (if it goes too far, just add a slug of white wine and keep on going). After ten minutes, the Quail should be done. Either serve it immediately, or else leave it to rest for up to twenty minutes in a warm oven.

Serve: one bird per person, with a spoonful of sauce over the top.

Recipe: Chicken and Artichoke 'Pie'

This pastry-less 'pie' is excellent as a way of using up leftover bird (chicken, in this instance, but just as easily duck, or guinea fowl, or turkey) - which I often find lurking in the fridge, as a two-person household tends only ever to get through half a beast in the course of one dinner. The 'pie' is best eaten once it has cooled for half an hour or so after coming out of the oven, or even cold, on the following day - while it's still hot, the thing will collapse into a heap if you try to slice it, whilst the process of cooling down allows the collagen to firm, and neat slices then become possible. The flavours are better too, once they've been left to mature for a while.

For simplicity's sake, you can make this in a pie dish, covering the top with foil for the first phase of cooking, which you then remove in order to allow the top to brown. For a more finished presentation, as shown above, I use two identical pyrex casserole lids, removing the top one half way through, and then replacing it and inverting the whole thing at the end of cooking - thus achieving a perfectly smooth surface - and then browning the newly-exposed top under the grill for several minutes.

For one 8"diameter 'Pie'.

Ingredients: the meat from two previously cooked chicken legs, cut into 1 cm dice; half a medium-sized aubergine; a cup of artichoke hearts (frozen is fine); 3 oz Butter; 1 tsp dried Thyme; 2 minced Garlic cloves; grated rind from 1 Lemon; 6 medium Potatoes; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Cut the aubergine and artichokes into approx 1 cm dice. Melt half the butter in a heavy frying pan , and soften the diced vegetables in Butter for five minutes, until they just begin to colour. Season lightly, and combine in a mixing bowl with the diced Chicken.

2. Stir into this mixture the Thyme, Garlic, and Lemon rind.

3. Heat the oven to 220 degrees C.

4. Peel the potatoes and slice thinly on a mandolin. Melt the remaining Butter in the frying pan, and toss the Potato slices in Butter, then cover with a lid and leave to cook gently for a few minutes - this is really just to make them soft and malleable, so they shouldn't begin to colour at this stage. Season the slices with Salt & Pepper.

5. In a greased pan (or the greased, upturned lid of a pyrex casserole) use two-thirds of the Potato slices to make a complete layer in the base, and then line the sides - use the longer narrower slices for this, and leave the top of the slices sticking up, as you'll want to bend these over the 'pie' filling once it's in place in order to start to form the top of the 'pie'.

6. Over the Potato base, pile the chicken-artichoke-aubergine mixture, then bend the side slices of Potato over the filling, and use the remaining slices to cover the top of the 'pie'.

7. Either cover the 'pie' with aluminium foil, greased on the underside, or else place a second greased pyrex lid over the top. Bake in the oven for twenty five minutes, and then remove the foil or lid and bake until thoroughly browned for a further twenty minutes or so. Remove form the oven If you've used a Pyrex lid, then at this stage put it back in place and invert the 'pie', so that you have a perfect surface which should then be placed under a hot grill for a minute or so in order to brown.

Leave to cool either partially or completely before serving.

Recipe: Guinea Fowl with Lemon & Garlic

A splendid combination of flavours, this dish is eminently practical for a dinner party, as it can be made almost entirely as much as an hour in advance, and the bird kept warm until the sauce is prepared, just before serving. The recipe is loosely adapted from one by Anna Del Conte, to whom I find I'm returning for ideas ever more frequently these days.

For four.

Ingredients: 1 Guinea Fowl (medium to large in size); 30g Butter, chilled and finely diced; 1 generous tsp Salt; 75 ml Olive Oil; 8 Garlic Cloves, minced; 150 ml Lemon Juice; grated rind of 1 Lemon; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Reach into the bird, and with your fingers separate as much of the skin from the flesh of the thighs and breasts. Into these cavities distribute the diced Butter. Rub the Salt all over the bird, and then package it loosely inside a buttered sheet of aluminium foil.

3. Place the wrapped bird in a roasting pan, and roast for an hour in the pre-heated oven. Once done, open the package carefully - you want to keep all of the cooking juices which have gathered inside the foil - and allow the bird to cool sufficiently to be able to remove the breasts and legs. (Retain the carcase and use it to make stock for use in other recipes). Collect in a bowl all of the cooking juices and the juices which have been released in the course of cutting up the bird.

4. Heat the Oil in a sauté pan, and lightly colour the garlic in the heated Oil. Add the pieces of Guinea Fowl and fry them gently for five minutes on each side, then add the Lemon juice and rind and cook for a further couple of minutes. Remove the pieces of Guinea Fowl to a covered bowl, season to taste and keep warm until about to serve.

5. Just before serving, add all of the retained cooking juices to the frying pan, and heat briskly, stirring vigorously, until the mixture bubbles and has slightly thickened. Serve the pieces of Guinea Fowl on heated plates, and add to each serving a spoonful of sauce.

Recipe: Duck Legs braised in Red Wine

There's more to Duck Legs than merely confit - which I love, but from time to time a change is welcome, and as an alternative this dish is excellent. Adapted from a recipe by Paula Wolfert - a food writer worthy of great respect, but who seems to have dropped from view these days - this is a dish which will have nostrils twitching as it cooks, and is every bit as delicious on the plate as those aromas promise in advance.

Since it seems almost impossible to find boiling fowl these days - in London, at least - then this is effectively a contemporary version of Coq au Vin, where the duck meat is sufficiently robust that it doesn't fall to pieces in the course of cooking - which is what inevitably happens when following a traditional Coq au Vin recipe, but having to use a roasting chicken instead.

For two.

Ingredients: 2 Duck Legs; 125g Lardons; 2 tbs Duck Fat; 2 cloves Garlic, minced; Salt & Pepper; 1 tsp dried Thyme; 1 medium Onion; 1 tbs Red Wine Vinegar; 1 tbs Dijon Mustard; 3 fl oz Red Wine (Merlot or something similarly four square); 5 fl oz Duck Stock; 2 medium Carrots.

Method:

1. Heat the Duck Fat in a small frying pan; sauté Lardons for five minutes or so, until slightly crisp, then transfer them, using a slotted spoon, to a casserole that can be used both on the hob and subsequently in the oven.

2. In the same frying pan, brown the Duck Legs in the fat, about four minutes on each side, until well-coloured all over. Transfer these also to the casserole, and sprinkle them with Garlic and Thyme; season generously.

3. Thinly slice the Onion, and cook in the frying pan for several minutes until it has visibly wilted, then add to the Duck Legs and Lardons.

4. Deglaze the frying pan with the Vinegar, then stir in Mustard, add the Red wine and boil down to reduce by half. Add this to the casserole, along with the Duck Stock.

5. Place the casserole over a low flame, bring to the boil and then reduce heat to simmer for about five minutes. Meanwhile peel and quarter Carrots, and add these to the casserole at the end of the simmering period. Put the lid on the casserole, then transfer the whole thing to the oven, pre-heated to 150 degrees C. Cook for one and a half hours.

6. Remove the Duck Legs from the casserole and keep warm; try and retrieve the Lardons, as well, and put these with the Duck Legs. Strain the other ingredients, pressing down in the sieve to extract all the good flavours, then discard the Onion and Carrots and use a fat strainer to remove the fat from the liquid. Reduce the remaining sauce for several minutes over medium heat until it is a good coating consistency.

7. Serve, with a spoonful of sauce over each Duck Leg.

Recipe: Duck Confit

Nothing to beat it - a deliciously crisp skin, and meat in which the flavours have been richly concentrated by long slow cooking. There's no waste, as the meat falls cleanly from the bones; and it's a time-efficient dish as well, since the process of re-heating the pieces of confit takes only twenty minutes or so in a medium-hot skillet...which is perfect for post-cinema supper, for instance, or having just got home, at the end of a long day.

These days, I generally make confit from the legs and wings of any duck I buy. The bird is boned, breasts are reserved to be grilled separately (from a decent sized bird, two breasts will be ample for four servings), the bones make a rich stock, the fat is trimmed and reduced for future use, and the legs and and wings go for confit. That way, one bird has the makings of six different dishes for two people, which is pretty efficient household management however you look at it.

Ingredients: Legs and wings from a duck ( a 2.5 kilo bird is a decent size for this- you can use smaller, but a bird this size will give generous servings); 2 tsp Salt; approx a dozen grindings of Black Pepper; 3 dried bay leaves, crumbled; 2 tsp dried Thyme; duck fat, approx 1 pint.

Method:

1. Place the duck pieces in a bowl, and coat them with all of the other ingredients, apart from the duck fat.

2. Heat the oven to 150 degrees C.

3. In a large, heavy pan, fry the pieces for ten minutes or so on each side over medium heat. They should be lightly browned all over.

4. Place the browned duck pieces in a shallow oven-proof dish, pour the fat over them, and cook in the pre-heated oven for two and a half hours.

5. Leave to cool completely in the fat, and then store the confit (still encased in fat) somewhere cool. When you want to eat it, pull the pieces of confit from the fat and fry gently for twenty minutes or so, until heated through. The fat can be retained for making future confit, or just for use as a frying agent in the kitchen.

Theoretically, the confit will be fine to eat even if left for for several months - I think the longest I've managed to last is about three weeks before breaking down and serving it!

Recipe: Poussin, Boned and Stuffed

I'm not normally a fan of poussin - the flavour is bland, and if you merely cook it whole, then you're hard-pressed to stretch one bird to feed two people, even after you've worried every last available bit of flesh off the bones. I thought to try this method, though, after a Christmas experiment the other week, when supplies were low, and I had to make one wood-pigeon do for two people. It still had its giblets, and so - having boned the bird - these were used as stuffing, in order to bulk up the end result. It worked well, and the poussin version given below was a very successful further refinement of the idea. By removing the ribcage and leg bones, one poussin was not only sufficient to feed two people, but there was even enough left over to use in a salad as a starter the next day.

For Two

Ingredients: 1 Poussin; half an Onion; 2-3 dried Porcini; 1 large Duck (or Chicken) Liver; half an oz Butter; 1 tsp dried Marjoram; 1 tbs brandy; 2 tbs fresh breadcrumbs; beaten Egg (to bind the stuffing mixture); 2 sticks Celery; 1 tbs Oil; 6 fl oz wine; 1 cup Chicken Stock; 1 tbs Soy Sauce; 4 slices Pancetta; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Reconstitute the dried Porcini in boiling water for twenty minutes or so, then drain and rinse to remove any remaining grit.

2. Bone the Poussin; remove the ribcage and all leg bones, but leave the wings in place.

3. Finely dice the Onion, sweat it in melted Butter until translucent, and then combine with chopped Liver, Breadcrumbs, Brandy, Marjoram, chopped Porcini, beaten Egg, and Seasoning.

4. Roughly chop the bones. Film the bottom of a sauté pan with Oil and soften the thinly-sliced Celery for several minutes, before adding the chopped bones to brown. Once the bones have browned, add the Wine and boil down, then add Stock and Soy Sauce and simmer for half an hour or so, until reduced to a small amount of deliciously concentrated sauce.

5. Stuff the boned Poussin with the Liver-Porcini-Onion mixture, then roughly re-form the bird, lay it in a greased roasting pan, and lay slices of Pancetta over the top.

6. Roast 35 minutes in a 200 degree C oven, and leave to rest for five minutes before slicing to serve.

7. Either drain the reduced sauce to serve it or, as I generally do, use a spoon to retrieve sauce from amongst the debris in the pan. One spoonful of sauce should be sufficient for each serving.

Recipe: Roast Quail with Walnut Mashed Potato

The secret to this dish is good organisation; quite a few stages, but nothing too complicated, and as long as you do everything in the correct order then the end result should be perfect. Succulent pieces of Quail served on a bed of walnut-flavoured purée, and a spoonful of richly complicated sauce which pretty much defies description. By the time you sit down to the first course, you can have the quail pieces and the finished potatoes warming in the oven, while the sauce bubbles away, just ready to be sieved and served.


For Four.

Ingredients: 6 Quail; 4 medium Potatoes; 2 tbs crushed Walnut pieces; 2 tbs Walnut Oil; 1 Egg; 1/4 cup of Milk; 1/2 thinly sliced Mushrooms; 1 large Shallot; 2 tbs Wine Vinegar; 2 tbs Soy Sauce; 1 tsp dried Oregano; 200 ml water; Olive Oil; Salt & Pepper; choppedParsley, for garnish.

Method:

1.Pre-heat the oven to 220 degreecs C.

2. Peel and cut up the potatoes and leave in salted water, ready to be cooked.

3. Film with oil the bottom of a pan that will subsequently fit in the oven, heat and then use to brown the quail lightly all over; season lightly with salt & pepper as you turn the birds to brown them. Once browned, place the whole pan in the oven to roast the quail for ten minutes.

4. Leave the birds to cool for a few minutes outside the oven, so that you can handle them, then quickly remove the legs and breasts and wrap them in a foil package and leave to keep warm inside a 60 degree C oven. Roughly chop the quail carcasses using either a cleaver or a heavy carving knife.

5. Heat some Oil in a pan, and use briefly to sauté the chopped Shallot and Mushroom; add the quail carcasses to this and brown altogether for about five minutes. De-glaze with Vinegar, then add the Oregano, Soy Sauce and Water, bring to the boil and then adjust the heat to simmer for half an hour or so.

6. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes, and once they are done pass them through the fine holes of a potato ricer; add Egg, Milk, Walnut pieces and Walnut Oil, and mix together. Check seasoning and adjust as appropriate. Keep warm while you finish the sauce.

7. Once the sauce has simmered for half an hour, sieve it into a clean saucepan and bring once more to the boil - you should have enough thick sauce for a generous spoonful per serving.

8. Put a generous spoonful of purée in the centre of each serving plate, arrange the quail legs and breasts around the purée and spoon the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with chopped Parsley, and serve.

Recipe: Chicken with Porcini & Marsala

Who could resist this combination? The seductively earthy tones of porcini, along with Marsala, in all its rich complexity. In Italy, a standard chicken from the local Polleria will have enough flavour to do justice to the dish - but I suspect that in the UK you'll need to shell out for a free-range bird if you want something with sufficient flavour to punch in the same weight as the other ingredients here. The recipe is very straightforward, good enough for a dinner party, and robust enough that you can do the entire thing in advance, and just reheat gently when the time comes to serve it. Since there's a lot going on in this particular dish, then I think it goes best with a vegetable which is plain but good - broccoli, for example, or green beans (something which has a slight crunch to it)

For Four:

Ingredients: 1 Chicken, cut into eight pieces; 3/4 Cup of dried Porcini; 1 oz Butter; 1 tablespoon Olive Oil; 1 medium White Onion, finely chopped; Seasoning; 1/2 Cup of Flour; 3 fl oz Marsala.

Method:

1. Put the Porcini in a heat-proof bowl, cover them with about a pint of boiling water, and leave to steep for twenty minutes or so. After they have soaked for the appropriate time, drain the Porcini through a sieve held over another bowl, to catch the soaking liquid; rinse the Porcini under running water to remove any grit, then chop finely on a board. Place a piece of kitchen paper in the sieve and filter the soaking liquid through it into another bowl or jug, and reserve to use later.

2. Over medium-high heat, melt the Butter with the Oil in a heavy casserole (one that has a lid). Roll the Chicken pieces in Flour, and put them in one layer in the casserole. After two or three minutes - by which time they will have browned on the underside - turn them over, and sprinkle them with the chopped Onion, and add appropriate seasoning. Lightly stir the Onion in, as the underside of the Chicken pieces brown in turn.

3. After a couple of minutes more, add the chopped Porcini, and the Marsala. Let the Marsala bubble slightly in the heat, and stir everything together. Pour over about half of the Porcini soaking liquid (discard the rest, once the recipe is completed), and once the liquid is bubbling, turn the heat down to low and place the lid on the casserole.

4. Leave to cook for fifty minutes or so, by which time the Chicken will be very tender. Check from time to time to see that the casserole is not dry (I find it isn't, but it will depend on the fit of the lid and pan you're using); if it needs more liquid, then add some more of the reserved Porcni soaking liquid.

5. just before serving, lift the Chicken pieces out onto heated serving plates, and pour the cooking juices into a fat strainer; leaving the fat in the strainer, pour the 'sauce' into a small saucepan, and reduce for a minute or so over high heat - you just need a spoonful or so of sauce for each serving - then divide the sauce between the Chicken pieces and serve.

Recipe: Poulet Antiboise

For Four.

Ingredients: 1 roasting Chicken, approx 4 lb weight; 2-3 lbs Onions (red, by preference; the flavour is 'meatier'); half a cup of Olive Oil; Salt & Cayenne Pepper; half a cup of Black Olives; 1 tablespoon Cream. Triangles of Fried Bread, for serving.

Method:

1. Thinly slice the Onions. Put in a heavy casserole, along with the Oil, Salt (to taste) and a generous pinch of Cayenne. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the onions have collapsed but not browned.

2. If you know how to make a neat job of it, remove the wishbone from the Chicken (this makes it much easier to carve, subsequently), then season the bird inside and out and bury it in the softened onions in the casserole. Cover, and continue to cook over medium heat until the Chicken is done - an hour or so should be fine. To test for done-ness, prick the fattest part of the thigh, and the juice which emerges should run clear.

3. Carefully remove the Chicken to a dish in a warming oven, add the Olives to the Onions, and increase heat to reduce the liquid. Stir in the Cream towards the end and reduce to thicken slightly.

Carve the bird and serve along with the Onion/Olive mixture and triangles of thinly sliced bread which have been fried in butter.

Recipe: Chicken Kiev

For Four.
Ingredients: 4 skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts; 4 oz Butter; Salt and Pepper; 1 large clove Garlic; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Parsley; juice and rind of half a Lemon; half a cup of Breadcrumbs; 1 Egg; Flour; Oil.

Method:

1. Pound the Chicken Breasts until they are approximately 4"-5" across (best done with the 'skin' side up, as the membranes are less likely to fracture and tear in the process; it doesn't matter gastronomically if they do, but is preferable aesthetically if they don't).

2. Add to the softened Butter, the Garlic, Parsley, Lemon Juice and Rind, and seasoning. Mash well with a fork, and once all the ingredients are properly integrated, place in the fridge to firm up for five minutes or so.

3. Divide the Butter mixture between the beaten Chicken Breasts. Wrap each breast up into a bundle around its Butter filling and secure each one with a couple of wooden toothpicks.

4. Beat the Egg in a shallow dish. Put the breadcrumbs into a second shallow dish. Dust the Chicken bundles with Flour and season lightly, then dip in turn in the beaten Egg, and then in the Breadcrumbs. Once breaded, leave the bundles in the fridge for at least an hour - preferably two - to firm up.

5. Heat the Oil to a high temperature in a heavy pan on the stove. Brown the Chicken bundles on all sides in the Oil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for about fifteen minutes, turning them from time to time to ensure that they cook evenly.

Serve. You can either struggle to remove the toothpicks before serving (and risk making the thing look a complete buggers' muddle in the process) or else warn your guests and let them do it for themselves. Personally, I don't see why people shouldn't have to work a bit........