Spring Poached Chicken
Here is the adapted recipe for Jamie Oliver's Spring Poached Chicken, as mentioned in Nosheteria. When I made this recipe, I adapted it to my tastes, added more veggies, what looked good, and what was in season. It still came out beautifully; so feel free to do the same.
Serves 4
4 1/2 lbs. chicken, preferably organic
handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 bay leaves
2 handfuls new potatoes, cleaned and scrubbed
2 handfuls baby carrots
2 handfuls baby turnips or radishes
1 bulb fennel, quartered, herby tops removed
2 handfuls peas
2 handfuls fava beans
1 colanderful fresh spinach leaves
optional:
1 horseradish, peeled and grated (or to taste)
1 small jar creme fraiche
Clean and dry the chicken, stuff with parsley and bay leaves. Put in a stock pot, filling with water to cover the chicken by an inch. Add a teaspoon of salt, and scatter in the potatoes. Bring to a boil, skimming of any scum. Once a boil has been reached, turn down the heat and cover, simmering for 20 minutes. Now add the fennel, carrots, and turnips; carry on simmering for 30-40 minutes.
When leg bone can easily be pulled away from the rest of chicken, it is cooked to perfection. Vegetables will be cooked to an ideal softness. To make the horseradish cream, grate horseradish into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and stir in creme fraiche.
Remove chicken from pot, removing parsley and bay leaves, and divide into pieces, removing the skin. Add the beans, peas, and spinach to the pot to simmer for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then ladle into bowl getting some broth and an equal portion of veggie. Place a portion of chicken in each bowl, and serve with horseradish cream on the side.
Serves 4
4 1/2 lbs. chicken, preferably organic
handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 bay leaves
2 handfuls new potatoes, cleaned and scrubbed
2 handfuls baby carrots
2 handfuls baby turnips or radishes
1 bulb fennel, quartered, herby tops removed
2 handfuls peas
2 handfuls fava beans
1 colanderful fresh spinach leaves
optional:
1 horseradish, peeled and grated (or to taste)
1 small jar creme fraiche
Clean and dry the chicken, stuff with parsley and bay leaves. Put in a stock pot, filling with water to cover the chicken by an inch. Add a teaspoon of salt, and scatter in the potatoes. Bring to a boil, skimming of any scum. Once a boil has been reached, turn down the heat and cover, simmering for 20 minutes. Now add the fennel, carrots, and turnips; carry on simmering for 30-40 minutes.
When leg bone can easily be pulled away from the rest of chicken, it is cooked to perfection. Vegetables will be cooked to an ideal softness. To make the horseradish cream, grate horseradish into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and stir in creme fraiche.
Remove chicken from pot, removing parsley and bay leaves, and divide into pieces, removing the skin. Add the beans, peas, and spinach to the pot to simmer for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then ladle into bowl getting some broth and an equal portion of veggie. Place a portion of chicken in each bowl, and serve with horseradish cream on the side.
posted by nosheteria at 3:10 PM
5 Comments:
I always like to make the stock (and therefore the poached chicken) a day ahead, strain it, and refrigerate overnight to facilitate the fat removal. That way I'm not picking through all the veggies to get the chicken parts out.
A few weeks ago I bought a 'stewing' chicken to make stock, reading for years that it made the most flavorful stock. I didn't care for it at all: I thought it tasted way too, I don't know, gamey or something, and the color was darker and muddier than my usual stock. I won't try that again, though I'm glad I did once. I'll stick with the cleaner flavor of a plain old fryer in the future.
You know, I've never had matzo ball soup in my life. Why not? Is it possible for a Polish Catholic girl to make a good matzo ball soup?
Absolutely! Anyone can enjoy matzo ball soup. It's really not so hard, you just have to buy matzo meal, not the matzo ball mix. And the other key is schmaltz (chicken fat), if you use that instead of other fats, ie: butter or oil, your matzo balls will be great. Keep me posted.
Me again. OK, I made stock yesterday, remembered not to throw out the fat that solidified, bought the matzo meal, and am ready to have at it.
I found a few recipes at Epicurious that suggest adding dill, leeks and various other things, but I think I'll just stick to the basic recipe for my first attempt. (Unless you have any family secrets you want to pass along.) But I have a few questions:
1. Quite a few of them call for something like a little (2 T) club soda or ginger ale. Yes or no?
2. What size do you make them? Most recipes say an inch or so in diameter, but some I've seen in pictures look humongous, more like 3 inches.
3. Obviously, the size has something to do with the poaching (simmering?) time, but that also varies widely, anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Also, why do you have to cook them in salted water? Why not just in the chicken broth?
4. Is that it then? Just the matzo balls in the broth? No carrots, celery or onion?
I'm sure I'm making this much harder than it will turn out to be, huh? :)
what wxactly is poaching?-i thought it was like simmering-and you were not supposed to boil?-crystal
I'm so glad I found this! I've moved recently and can't find the box with my cookbooks. My husband and I made Jamie Oliver's version of Spring Poached Chicken last year and LOVED it. Especially the fresh horseradish adding that special something to the final dish. We've been wanting to make it again, so I did a google search to see if I could find it (easier than tracking down the box!). Unfortunately, I've not been able to source creme fraiche in my new town yet. But thank you so much for posting your version of the recipe!
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