Search Over 15,000 Recipes

Advanced Search

Ingredients

Exclude

Cuisine
Collections
Chef Name
Show Name

Recipes from: Celebrity Chefs
Member Chefs
Both
Recipes must have: Video Photo

My Mother's Praised Chicken

Recipe by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Kitchen

Pin It

This may well be, indeed is, the smell, the taste, the dish that says “family” to me and my siblings and brings our long-absent mother back to the kitchen and the table with us.

Serves 4 to 8

Ingredients

1 large chicken, preferably organic (now at top of ingredients list)
2 teaspoons garlic oil
100ml white wine or dry white vermouth
2-3 leeks, trimmed, clean and cut into approx 7cm logs
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into batons
1-2 sticks of celery, sliced
approx 2 litres cold water
1 bouquet garni or teaspoon dried herbs
fresh parsley stalks or few sprigs, tied or banded together
2 teaspoons sea salt flakes or one teaspoon pouring salt
2 teaspoons red peppercorns, or good grinding pepper

To serve

chopped leaves, from parsley stalks above
chopped fresh dill
English mustard

Measurement Conversion Calculator

Method

Get out a large, flame safe cooking pot (with a lid) in which the chicken can fit snugly: mine is about 28cm wide x 10cm deep.
On a washable board, un-truss the chicken, put it breast side down and press down on the chicken until you hear the bone crack. (As you may imagine I like this.) Then press again, so that the chicken is flattened slightly. Now cut off the ankle joint below the drumstick (but keep them). I find kitchen scissors up to the task.
Put the garlic oil in the pan to heat then brown the chicken for a few minutes breast side down, and then turn up the heat turn over the chicken tossing in the feet as you do so. Still with the heat vigorous, add the wine or vermouth to the pan and let bubble down a little before adding the leeks, carrots and celery.
Pour in enough cold water to cover the chicken, though the very top of it may be poking out, then pop in the bouquet garni or your herbs of choice, then the parsley stalks (if I have a bunch, I cut the stalks off to use here but leave them tied in the rubber band) or parsley sprigs along with the salt and red peppercorns or just a good grinding of regular pepper.
The chicken should be almost completely submerged by now, and if not, do add some more cold water. You want it just about covered.
Bring to a bubble, clamp on a lid, turn the heat to very low and leave to cook for an hour and a half to two hours. I tend to give it one and a half hours, or one hour 40 minutes, then leave it to stand with the heat off, but the lid still on for the remaining 30 or 20 minutes.
Serve the chicken and accompanying vegetables with brown basmati, adding a ladleful or two of liquid over each shallow bowl as you go and putting fresh dill and mustard on the table for those eating to add as they wish.

No Rating

Notes & Tips

Freeze note The cooked meat can be frozen, as soon as it is cool, in resealable bags or airtight containers for up to 2 months.
Serving size note Chicken cooked this way seems to go much further than roast chicken, so you can feed more first time off or have plenty for the rest of the week.
Recipe from Nigella Kitchen by Nigella Lawson, published by Chatto & Windus, part of the Random House Group Ltd.
www.nigella.com

Recipe Rating

What do you think?

Evelyn34 April 2011

Seems nice. I`ll know for sure when I try it.

Reply to this comment | Report abuse
muppy February 2011

i cooked this and used the leftovers for the thai chicken soup. It was a comforting healthy tasting chicken dish, but not really my thing.

Reply to this comment | Report abuse
More
You will need to be a member to leave a comment - Log in / Register

Add a new comment

Name:

E-Mail:

Password: