Cooking & Quaffing

I was lucky enough this week to be invited to a corporate event that is right up my street – ‘Cooking & Quaffing’. It was a great fun delicious evening and I certainly learnt  a few new tricks. We were split into teams and each team was responsible for one of the courses for approx 40 people.  The menu was as follows:-

Starter – Arancini

Main – Chicken Forestiere

Dessert – Mandarin Trifle

I was assigned to the ‘Mains’ team and learnt how to prepare a ballotine from a chicken supreme and also how to chop shallots & garlic like a pro. I will definitely prepare chicken this way again as the result was so tender. We were lucky enough to have a team of talented chefs instructing us. Our chef was from Avignon and had a michelin star – I was super impressed but then have completely forgotten his name. I must have been too busy swooning over his accent (sorry James!) but there is something about the French accent!!

The evening was run out of Beyond Boyle which is an organisation that organises corporate hospitality, team building exercises and also has a foundation which teams with London charities to provide vocational training for the homeless. Definitely a worthy cause.

Running the actual evening itself was Harry – a charming and affable elderly gentlemen (78 by his own admission and consumer of many thousands of bottles of wine, once again by his own admission!). Harry’s team of chefs were a multicultural team bringing experience and knowledge from Russia, France, Italy & Brazil. After preparing the food, and leaving the chefs to actually cook it, we sat down to a session of ‘Quaffing’ – Harry was an excellent teacher and obviously very enthusiastic. I particularly enjoyed the Moscato dessert wine – was perfect with the Mandarin Trifle (which was far more delicious than it sounds!).

So I will leave you withe recipe for the main of Chicken Forestiere, however it does not include the instruction on preparing the chicken (and I dare not try and write it down…)  Our chef also mentioned it was to be steamed for 7 minutes before going into the pan.

Chicken Forestiere (courtesy of Chateau Harry)

Ingredients:-

4 x chicken supreme, skin on

1 x onion, finely chopped

1 x shallot, finely chopped

2 x garlic cloves, finely chopped

250g mixed mushrooms, diced

Oil for frying

250ml double cream

100g butter

Parsley & Thyme, finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

White wine for cooking

Preheat oven to 180C.

Brown off the chicken in a pan. Remove & set aside.

Saute the onions, shallots and garlic. Remove & set aside.

Now saute the mushrooms. Wait until all the moisture has been re-absorbed and then add the chopped herbs, salt & pepper and a good splash of white wine. Return the onion mixture to the pan and cook for 3-5 mins on medium heat. Add the cream and simmer gently, stirring to prevent burning.

Place the chicken in a roasting tin and cook in the middle of the oven for 20 mins. When cooked remove and rest for 5 mins. Finish the sauce by adding the butter and stirring.

Adjust the seasoning and plate up the chicken, dress with the mushroom sauce. Serve with fresh vegetables.