Pale and Mysterious - Poached Chicken

This is a very pale looking dish, but what it lacks in colour it certainly makes up for in flavour....and it's just perfect now that the days are turning a little cooler here in the Southern hemisphere and it's getting warmer in the north.

I first saw Ben O'Donoghue make this on a lazy Saturday afternoon while watching "The Best in Australia" on one of the new digital TV channels. It's Poached Chicken and Tuna Mayo Salad, and I love it for it's simplicity.

Image from here

I tweaked this a little from Ben's original recipe...here's my version


You'll need
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1 free range chicken
2 pork bones or spare ribs
Big handful of parsley and stalks
4 spring onions, chopped in 3 inch pieces
2 cloves Garlic
1 carrot
1 lemon
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Good pinch of salt.


Tuna Mayo
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1 tin Tuna in oil
3 egg yolks
Lemon juice or white wine vinegar
400 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Salad
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500g New Potatoes
8 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons capers
Chopped parsley

First of all, juice the lemon and set the juice aside for the tuna mayo. Use the cut lemon pieces in the poaching water for the chicken

To poach the chicken, place it in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the pork bones, parsley and stalks, shallots, garlic, left over lemon halves, carrot, salt and peppercorns and bring to a simmer for six minutes then turn it off and let it stand, covered for at least 1 hour.
Remove the chicken and set aside. Don't forget to keep the chicken stock and freeze it for other dishes.

To make the tuna mayo, whisk together egg yolks and lemon...and while whisking, slowly add the olive oil. As soon as you have mayonnaise, add the broken up tuna and season to taste.

For the salad, cook the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain and cut in half then set aside. Dress them with a little of your tuna mayo and add the capers.

To Serve...break up the chicken (you can discard the skin if you wish) arrange some meat on a plate with the potatoes and spoon over the mayo then garnish with the anchovy fillets.

That's it. I served this with some steamed green beans rather than a salad. Enjoy this on a lovely Sunday afternoon with the wine of your choice. We had a very nice De Bortoli Windy Peak Chardonnay

For a change, you can use celery leaves or baby spinach or any other green leafy veg you like...

It really is a lovely Sunday lunch. Yummo!

(sorry still no camera so I had to rely on Ben's photo from Best in Australia)