The Ultimate Chicken Curry

The Ultimate Curry Protions: 6

This recipe comes from the days of kitchen work when I have to make food for the staff. It is an important time when working in hospitality because its hard to get time to sit down and eat a proper meal. It also means that you and your work mates can sit down and catch up and bond building the relationships between each other

The most important thing to remember is to play around with the recipe that suits you and that there is no right or wrong
After making different food for everyone for what feels like a hundred times, I feel like I have perfected it some what and need to pass on the recipe now!

Ingredients:

• 1kg of diced chicken thigh
• 1 Aubergine
• 1 Medium spanish onion
• 6 Garlic cloves
• 1 Tin coconut milk
• Ground cumin
• Ground Chilli
• Ground Corriander
• Ground Turmeric
• Ground Fenegreek
• 2 Lemons
• Fresh corriander
• 50ml Double cream

Yoghurt Raita:

• Yoghurt
• Lemon juice
• Fresh coriander
• Ground Cumin

To Marinade the chicken

I chose to use diced chicken thigh because I believe its more moist, soft and flavoursome than chicken breast however you could use chicken breast or legs for the same dish.

It is important to marinade your chicken if you have the time to do it because it can be a bland meat to use and cook with but if you could it properly and in the right ways, then it can be just as good as any other.

Start off by preparing the marinade. Place all the dry spices in a dry pan to cook off a little bit otherwise you might find you will get a grainy texture to your curry which you can feel the spices. Don’t be shy with the spices because these are the only spices you will be adding to your dish. Add roughly equal amounts of all the spices except the chilli which I will leave to you how spicy you want it, but usually only a drop will do. This will only take a minute on a medium heat, then add some sunflower oil and and the lemon juice of 2 lemons to make a paste, bring to the oil and take off to cool. Once cool, pour over the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Place this into the fridge for at least 24 hours to marinade.

To cook the chicken

You can cook this dish in two different ways, which I find both are just as good as each other. One is frying in a pan but the way I prefer is roasting in the oven. Roast the chicken in the oven, evenly spread out on a roasting tray and roast for about 20 minutes at 190 Celsius, but depending on the size of the pieces it could be longer or shorter.

Once cooked, take the tray out and take the chicken pieces out leaving all the roasting juices and spices in the pan.

To make the sauce

Using this pan, place it back on the hob on a lower heat and place your thinly sliced onion and garlic and cook them off slowly until soft. Remember to season onions at the start of cooking! Dice up the aubergine and cook them as well. If you wanted to add pre cooked potatoes then now would be the time to do so. Make sure you are not burning anything, especially the garlic as this will give you a bitter flavour to the curry.

Finish it by adding the coconut milk and a drop of cream as well until you have a nice silky consistency. Finish it by adding chopped fresh coriander and checking the seasoning. Add the chicken back and bring back up to temperature.

To serve......

Personally I would serve it with some basmati rice, with chickpeas or garden peas. I would also serve it with a yoghurt raita, made with mixing yoghurt, lemon juice, chopped coriander and a drop of ground cumin. But again remember to experiment and I hope you enjoy!

English Breakfast Consommé

English Breakfast Soup Portions: 4

I thought of this dish when struggling to think of the soup course for a competition. The theme was best of British, but I didn’t have any soup recipes that I liked. I sat down and thought about the most British dishes we had to offer, and that is when I thought of de-constructing the 'English Breakfast and making into an stunning soup course.

It did take a lot of work to get the concept of the dish right, with a balance of flavours that worked together, as well as making the dish look as amazing as the flavours. And for such an amazing dish it is so simple to make.

Ingredients:

• 800g Ripe plum tomatoes
• 200g Celery
• 100g Button mushrooms
• 100g Diced pancetta
• 70g Cherry tomatoes
• 1 Loaf crusty bread
• Parsley
• 3 Sprigs of thyme
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• 100g Butter

Tomato Soup

The Soup or Consommé part of the dish is actually so simple to make. The original way to make a clear soup is by using the traditional French way of whisking in egg whites to draw out the impurities leaving a clear soup, but I find this is to complicated and variable. A lot of things can go wrong so using my method is so much easier and user friendly.

Simply put the plum tomatoes in a robot coupé or a blender along with the celery and a drop of salt and a half dozen of peppercorns. Adding the salt at this point will help draw the moisture from the tomatoes. Place the mixture in some Muslin cloth or any other fine cloth and hang it in the fridge for at least 24 hours, and what you should get at the end of it is a clear stock of concentrated tomato juice which will be the basis of the soup.

The Soup Ingredients

For the ingredients of the soup, fry off the pancetta lardons in a pan in a drop of oil until they are evenly golden brown. Pick out the pieces and place on some absorbent paper, leaving all the pancetta flavoured oil in the pan which will be used to fry the mushrooms. Half the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes and then add a nob of butter to finish and drain them off as well .

The Granish

For the 'sugar' element is made up from sun dried tomatoes and croutons. To make the sun dried tomatoes, simply cut them in half and place them on a tray with some olive oil and place them in an oven for about and hour at 100 Celsius. Doing this will withdraw the moisture from the tomatoes leaving a sweet tomato. You can buy sun dried tomatoes which are still good quality.

To make the croutons, pick out the flesh of the crusty bread, they don’t have to be perfect and the same size. Heat up butter in a pan until foaming on a medium-high heat and add the thyme sprigs and garlic cloves. Leave these a few seconds before adding the bread and toast these until they are golden brown, and once they are done drain them on some absorbent paper.

All that is left to do is assemble the cup of tea. Pour the tomato consommé in a jug, place some chopped parsley at the bottom of a tea cup and cover with a few of the lardons and button mushrooms, and fill up up a small ramekin bowl with the croutons and tomatoes to play the roll of the sugar which completes the perfect cup of tea.

This dish is a real favourite of mine. Building a cup of tea but with the ingredients of an english breakfastgives a quirky take on an English classic with a dramatic twist, which makes this dish really entertaining, but yet a wonderfully tasty and satisfying way to start any meal and break the ice. If you decide to make this dish then you will be in for a real treat!

Harwood Arms

27 Walham Grove
London
SW6 1QR
020 7386 1847

Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sun 12-11pm;
Fri-Sat 12pm-12am

Stars: *****

A while ago I found myself browsing the internet for a restaurant that would both offer me good value for money, as well as an amazing, gastronomic dinning experience. Although I was going for a friends birthday, I also wanted my first experience of  a Michelin stared restaurant to be an amazing one, and as soon as I was seated in the Harwood Arms, I knew I wasn’t in for a disappointing evening.

This gastro pub is located away from the hustle and bustle of the inner city madness, tucked away in the centre of Fulham (a short walk away from Fulham Broadway tube station). The Pub is a collaboration between Brett Graham of the Ledbury, Mike Robinson of the Pot Kiln and Edwin Vaux from the Vaux brewery working the front of house.

The aim of the establishment is to provide a relaxed experience, but at the same time offering some of the finest British ingredients, made even better by interestingly simple cooking methods and flavour combinations that the menu offers. As a result of the sophisticated food and homely setting, Harwood Arms were awarded a Michelin star in 2010.

When you enter you immediately get a warm feeling. From the rustic old wooden tables and chairs, to the smell of the freshly made bread in the restaurant, waiting to be served to eagerly awaiting locals who you sense are regular visitors, and for good reason.

The room, filled with rustic ornaments and early 19^th century décor is split into two halfs. In one half you can enjoy one of a range of tasty pints of ale and possibly a Roe deer scotch egg if you fancy a nibble. The other half used more for the dinning.

The staff are as dressed to suit the rest of the establishment, serving the food and drinks table side in jeans and footwear that would never usually be associated with Michelin restaurants.

The food was heavenly right from the word go. The freshly baked bread which was served for two in a small, quaint woven bag which made me smile and immediately kicked off a whole conversation with my companion. This was swiftly followed by a game dish which the pub is renowned for. I chose a beautiful pigeon dish, formed of perfectly cooked skewer of legs and breast as well as a breaded option croquet, served with a separate glaze which you could add when needed (in my case, a lot it was that good!). Across the table opposite from me was a very appetising veal schnitzel which looked just as good.

The mains following consisted of sumptuous lamb chops served with curly kale and confit shallots, cauliflower croquets and a lamb jus. I went for a perfectly slow cooked, warm ox cheek which was served in its own juices, along with celeriac puree and sautéed mushrooms. A simple dish don’t get me wrong but with every element cooked and made as well as this, it was warming and satisfying in every way.  Conversation had halted between us as we concentrated and in awe of the food we were eating. The only communication being the looks of amazement we would give each other occasionally.

The dessert we both had to choose the marmalade filled doughnuts served with clotted cream. So warm, lightly and fluffy its nearly indescribable, with the warmness of the doughnuts cutting through the clotted cream, it was the perfect way to finish off the meal (along with a bill of around £40 each). Before leaving overly satisfied and wondering when to make time to go again and visit.

If your looking for somewhere that you and a group of friends can go to eat amazing food, served by

attentive staff that will intrigue you with their knowledge of the food and their bubble personality. If your wondering where to go that isn’t overpriced, and you can enjoy your company with conversation and laughs, along with a light hearted atmosphere and approach to things then look no further than the Harwood Arms!