Serves
Serves 2-4
This is a great way to exercise knife skills, utilise a whole chicken whilst making two dishes that are very different, seasonal and wholesome with great taste.
Ingredients
Broth
- 1 medium whole free-range/organic chicken
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 sticks celery, chopped
Optional – ¼ celeriac and a medium leek, chopped. - 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 bouquet garni: stick celery, small bunch thyme, bay leaf and parsley stalks tied together
- 3L water
Thai salad with chicken and peanuts
Salad
- 2 boneless skinless cooked chicken breasts
- 1 small head green or white cabbage
- 1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
- 1 small cucumber, deseeded and shredded
- 10 stems fresh coriander, chopped
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp chopped peanuts
Dressing
- 2 fat garlic cloves
- 3 bird’s eye chillies
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp agave syrup
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tbsp water
Method
Broth Directions
- Firstly, joint the chicken. Contributing editor, James Ramsden has a handy guide on how to do that here.
- Place the thighs, legs, wings and carcase in a large pan, add all the other ingredients, bring to boiling point, then reduce the heat and simmer covered with a lid for 2 hours, topping up with water when needed.
- When the last 15 minutes of the cooking time is reached, add the breast of chicken and continue cooking until the end of the cooking time. Remove the chicken breasts and cool them, they can be used in a delicious shredded seasonal salad with a Thai dressing. Use the simple broth and the other chicken meat to make a delicious soup like the classic Greek recipe below, which is full of goodness.
- Avgolemono (egg-lemon soup): Remove the chicken joints and carcass from the broth and strip the meat and reserve. Place the broth over a medium heat, add 100g washed long grain rice, cook until soft. Beat 2 large eggs with 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice in a medium size bowl. Take a ladle of the hot broth and stir it into the eggs, add another ladle and then another. Remove the broth from the heat and stir the egg broth into the main broth. Finish with a small bunch of chopped parsley.
Thai salad with chicken and peanut directions
- Chop the cabbage into very thin pieces, like it would be for coleslaw. I did this by rolling up several leaves together and making thin vertical slices across the roll and then chopping them once horizontally. Peel and grate the carrots. Cut off the skin, remove the seeds, and peel the cucumber into ribbons. Roughly chop the coriander and spring onions. Thinly slice the chicken and toss together with the vegetables in a large bowl and keep chilled.
- For the dressing, paste the garlic with a little sea salt and finely chop the chillies, place in a small mixing bowl with the soy sauce, vinegar, agave, lime juice, oil, and fish sauce. Add the peanut butter and water and whisk until smooth and creamy.
- Toss the salad with the dressing. Add the crushed peanuts. Serve chilled. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to one day.