CHICKEN IN A MUSTARD SAUCE (Serves 4)
Inspired by chef Henry Harris at Racine, London
INGREDIENTS:
1 large onion, sliced into rings; 6-8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs; 200g smoked bacon lardons; 2tbsp olive oil; sea salt and ground black pepper; a couple of knobs of butter; half a dozen fat cloves of garlic (optional); 400ml chicken stock from cube; 100ml double cream; Dijon mustard
METHOD:
1. Heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. You’re going to roast these chicken thighs hot and fast. 2. Put the onion across the bottom of an oven pan. Place the chicken thighs on top, skin side up. Chuck the lardons over and around them. Dribble on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, season liberally with salt and pepper and add two good knobs of butter. Add the cloves of garlic. They aren’t important to the recipe. I just can’t resist the opportunity to roast garlic with chicken thighs. They go soft and mellow and squidgy and can be eaten whole.
3. Roast for around 45 minutes, until the skin is crisp. Baste them every 15 minutes or so. About halfway through the cooking, give them 10 minutes skin side down so the backs crisp up. Then turn back skin side up for another 10 minutes.
4. While the chicken is roasting, warm a serving dish which is big enough and has high-enough sides to strain the sauce. 5. When the thighs are done, take them out of the pan, shake off any caramelised rings of onion or lardons. Put the chicken in the serving dish to rest. It will not get cold and will benefit hugely from the 15 minutes rest it will take to make the sauce. 6. The pan will have lots of fabulous juices in it. Put it on a medium heat, and pour in the stock, scraping up everything from the bottom of the pan. Let it bubble and reduce for five minutes.
7. Pour in the double cream and whisk to incorporate into the stock. Let it simmer and thicken (but don’t let it boil). 8. Whisk in a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Taste. (Always taste.) If you think it can take more, add a teaspoon at a time.
9. Once it has thickened enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon, pour everything in the tray over the chicken thighs.
10. Serve with rice, or crusty bread and a sharp green salad. Pretend you’re a rustic French farmer.
2tbsp olive oil; 1½tbsp sherry vinegar (white wine vinegar is a good alternative); 1tsp sesame oil; sea salt
METHOD:
1. Gently toast the sesame seeds in a dry cast iron frying pan, over a medium heat. Keep watch. They burn easily. When most of them are lightly golden brown, remove to a bowl, add a pinch of table salt, and set aside. Wipe down the pan to remove any stray sesame seeds. They don’t taste at all nice when burnt.
2. Separate out the duck legs and place them skin side down in the frying pan over the lowest heat. Do not add any oil. They’ll produce more than enough fat of their own. Turn every 5 minutes or so, as they start to colour.
3. After about 10 or 15 minutes, take the pan off the heat. Using a fork and a sharp knife you should be able to pull the meat away from the bone. Break it up into smaller pieces, with the skin down. Put back on to the heat. Use a spatula to continue breaking up the meat into smaller pieces.
Attend to any pieces of skin that come away. They may look fatty, but gently increase the heat and they will crisp up, though keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
4. Once crisped, remove the leg bones and keep them as a chef‘s perk. Stand by the stove, chewing off the last bits of meat while no one is watching. You’ve earned it. When the duck is broken up and crisped take the pan off the heat.
5. Put the ingredients for the salad dressing into a bowl, including a good pinch of sea salt. Pile the leaves and sliced radishes on top, then toss and turn to coat in the dressing using your hands or salad servers. Portion out on to four plates or flat bowls.
6. Put the hoi sin sauce in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the duck and mix to coat every piece completely. Top each portion of the salad with a quarter of the duck. Sprinkle on the toasted sesame seeds and decorate with the batons of spring onion.