Food Fit for a Queen
Blog Entry: Tuesday 02 Jun 2009
Officially 56 years after the dish was served by chef Rosemary Hume to guests at the banquet of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the creamy concoction is still a British party favourite.
The Sunday Times provide a recipe which they claim is “the proper way to make it, reworked from an old classic, rather than just mixing chicken, mayonnaise and curry powder together. You will really notice the difference.”
Coronation chicken
Serves 4-6 as a main course
Ingredients:
For the chicken and stock:
1.8kg organic chicken
5cm piece of ginger, sliced
½ lemon, sliced
½ orange, sliced
1 leek
2 sticks celery
1 onion
1 bulb garlic
1 star anise
10 peppercorns
Salt and pepper
For the coronation sauce:
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp garlic purée
2.5cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
40g butter
3 tsp curry powder
40g flour
300ml reduced chicken stock (see above)
90ml double cream
2 tbsp currants or chopped dried apricots
To serve:
100g mango chutney
300ml mayonnaise
Juice of ½ lemon
100g greek yoghurt
1 cos lettuce, washed
70g flaked almonds, toasted
Method:
1. Place the chicken in a large metal pan. Add the ginger, lemon, orange, leek, celery, onion, garlic, star anise and peppercorns. Pour over enough water to cover the chicken, then season. Cover the pan with a lid and bring to the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 1 hour.
2. Switch off the heat and leave the chicken in the liquid until cool enough to handle. Remove the chicken from the stock and strain the liquid into a clean pan. Bring to the boil and reduce it to 300ml. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Pull the meat off the carcass and tear it into thick strips, discarding all the bone and gristle. Set the meat aside in the fridge.
3. To prepare the sauce, sweat the onion, garlic and ginger in the butter over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until soft. Add the curry powder and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the flour to make a roux. Pour in the reduced stock, bring to a simmer, stirring continuously, then add the cream. Pass through a fine sieve, then add the currants or apricots and leave to cool.
4. Purée the mango chutney in a food processor until smooth. Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice and yoghurt to the cooled stock mixture, then stir in the cooked chicken. Chill until ready to serve.
5. To serve, divide the cos lettuce leaves between separate plates or place in one large shallow bowl, then top with the coronation chicken and the toasted almonds.
To see the original article by Cass Titcombe, visit the Times Online.
Leave a reply