Coronation Chicken

Coronation Chicken

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But first……..some Royal Wedding loving.

Let’s be honest this royal wedding malarkey is getting a bit much. I can’t watch any breakfast telly anymore for fear of kicking the flat screen into a million pieces…..The will he won’t he saga is doing my swede in……..It’s like Eastenders. I can’t imagine all of this drama is going down well at the Palace. It’s like Fergie all over again. Spitting Image should do a wedding special. Imagine…..

But in reality it is like most weddings I went to in my twenties and thirties they were always a hot bed of drama and fallings out. Blinkin loved it. Weddings seem to bring out emotion like no other occasion. Literally every one I went to ended up in some scene from a soap opera and more often than not  fighting among lots of paralytic people whilst others were sick in the bushes. The lethal combination of free wine from noon was and is a recipe for disaster. We had an outrageously good time. I’d be horrified now if I was in the middle of all that.

I can remember getting hideously drunk at my brother in law’s wedding by 12.30 pm before we had even sat down and then spilling a bottle of red wine all over the lady sitting next to me in a white trouser suit………Holy Sh.t…… Things only got progressively worse…..Then tw.tted I must have felt jealous and proceeded to tell everyone (and I mean everyone) right in their faces for hours that I was going to get married next year ( I wasn’t even engaged )before having a huge public row with my boyfriend and trying to walk five miles home in bare feet…. What a T.AT! Can you see it??? Cringe City.

My Wedding

My own first wedding evening do was another boozy night resulting in much drama, laughter and people drunk driving around the parking field, leaning out of the windows shouting obscenities at each other………The pinnacle of the evening however was a good old fashioned flash. A close friend of mine in an effort to be seamless was wearing no knickers and as the night got later and she got more inebriated she thought it would be a fabulous idea to climb up on the chairs to strut her stuff……..Needless to say she went ar.e over t.t in front of everyone with legs akimbo. I could hear all the screaming from the toilet miles away. We have NEVER let her forget it….well you wouldn’t would you……. Brilliant. Pass me the confetti and Hog Roast.

Nowadays if I was a witness to all that I would be tutting and calling for a taxi. Harry and Meghan’s wedding has made me have a little reminisce about the fantastic weddings gone by. Sad but I had almost forgotten them. Nowadays my main concern would be getting to the buffet first…….

Keep Calm and Coronation Chicken Recipe

This  Coronation Chicken recipe is my ode to the royal wedding. Alone as a Chicken Salad or Coronation Chicken Sandwich recipe it is classically English and done properly seriously delicious. There are usually a couple of problems with it however. The first is that it’s recipes can be terribly long winded and the second is that the quick version is usually simply mayo mixed with curry powder. I am not a fan of raw spices and just don’t like their slightly harsh flavour. So my recipe has taken the best of both types of recipes and come up with this little beauty of a hybrid.

I have been so blown away by my Coronation Chicken fetish that I will be making some again just as soon as I can get my hands on another chicken. I am mad for the stuff……. Perhaps they will have it in some nice vol au vents at THE wedding. I know I so would….

Sorry couldn’t resist!

My recipe involves poaching a whole chicken in a snug saucepan it’s a simple thing to do and well worth the effort. The chicken itself is then lightly flavoured from the veg and bay leaf and oh so moist. Chicken needs to be moist to be magnificent. After that we return to the land of ‘Bob’s your Uncle’ as it is simply a matter of mixing the sauce ingredients together before sousing the chicken in it’s magical sauce. Unroll your picnic blanket and get out your bunting……

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Coronation Chicken

This Coronation Chicken is absolutely delicious. It has a real depth of flavour that hides it's simplicity. Warmly spiced, fruity but creamy it really earns it's classic reputation. Studded with apricots and raisins it is perfect as a salad or filling for sandwiches or suchlike. Quintessentially British Summertime.

Course Main Course

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

Roast Chicken

• 1.5 kg chicken best you can afford
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1 large carrot chopped roughly
• 1 large onion chopped roughly
• 1 cinnamon stick

Coronation Sauce

• 1 1/2 tbsps mild curry powder
• 150 mls mayonnaise
• 150 mls plain yoghurt
• 2 tsps worcestershire sauce
• 30 grams sultanas
• 50 grams ready to eat dried apricots chopped finely
• 50 grams flaked almonds
• 5 tbsps mango chutney
• 1 small bunch coriander chopped

Instructions

1. Put the chicken and ingredients into a snug fitting saucepan and cover the chicken in water. Mine didn't cover it all as the chicken was too high so I turned it over breast side down.

2. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook gently in the oven for about an hour and a half. I had my oven on at 140 C. I also used a meat thermometer to make sure it was 75 C.

3. Take it out and set aside to cool enough to be able to strip all the meat from the carcass.

4. Meanwhile put the curry powder in a saucepan and toast for a minute or so until you can smell the spices in the air. Keep a close eye on the pan as they can burn easily. I keep moving them about with a wooden spoon.

5. Tip them into a bowl and mix all the sauce ingredients apart from the coriander together. 

6. Add the chicken to the sauce and mix well through. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before adding the coriander when ready to eat.

7. Apply to Face in a Big Hat.

Here is another recipe perfect for a Summer picnic – Potato Salad

Potato salad

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Coronation Chicken

I have linked this post with Cook, Bog, Share over at Recipes Made Easy –  Fiesta Friday.