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*Just wanted to point out that this recipe was published September 2007 in my newspaper column before anybody starts sending me get well cards. The foot except for a scar has healed though it did take over two months.
MY week's holiday in the south of France turned out longer than anticipated after a full 2 litre kettle of boiling water was accidentally dropped on my foot. That will teach me to help with the clearing up!
I just had to use one of the ingredients I brought back from my holiday - dried morel mushrooms.
I know they are not easily obtainable outside the trade, but they should be.. in my opinion perhaps the best wild mushroom there is.
INGREDIENTS
2 x 175g skin-on chicken breasts
300 ml chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon herbs de provence
1 large flat sliced mushroom
100 ml double cream
10 dried morel mushrooms
2 baking potatoes
1 Tbsp diced country ham
125g (5oz) baby spinach
50g (2oz)unsalted butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
METHOD
Preheat the oven 190c (gas mark 5) and soak the morels in cold water for 30 minutes. Keeping the water from the morels, slice each morel in half and re-rinse them to remove any grit then dry them on paper towel.
Drain the morel water through a very fine strainer to remove any grit (if you don't have a strainer that fine then line your strainer with one sheet of paper towel).
Combine the chicken stock, the flat mushroom and the strained morel water, herbs de provence and gently simmer until the flat mushroom are tender then turn off the heat.
Use a sharp knife and trim the top and bottom of the baking potatoes, cutting each potato into a 4 cm (1 1/2 inch) thick slice.
Use a small paring knife, cut the remaining peel off the potatoes, trimming each baking potato into a disk shape (like a hockey puck).
Melt the butter in a heavy non-stick sautepan, then brown off the potato discs on a medium heat, turning them over occasionally. Once brown, add 50 ml of stock to the pan, cover with a lid or aluminium foil and cook in the oven until tender, then keep warm.
Strain the stock to remove the herbs and sliced mushrooms, then add the cream and the morel pieces, and keep on a very low heat.
Brown the chicken in half the oil, season with salt and pepper then finish cooking them in the oven (approximately 12 minutes). Add the diced country ham to the pan during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, wash the spinach, then drain well.
Flash-fry the spinach in the remaining oil for 2-3 minutes then season and drain well, pressing out the moisture.
TO SERVE
Divide the spinach onto the two warm dinner plates, top with a potato, then the chicken and then spoon over the sauce and ham
CHEFS TIP
IF you're having difficulty finding morels, try the internet. They're not cheap but for a special treat well worth it. You can use any kind of air-dried ham (Parma, Prosciutto etc) in place of country ham. If you want to see more recipes like this
© 2007 © 2008 All rights reserved
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