Chicken risotto

Ingredients 1 pint chicken stock, a good handful of roast chicken, 1 stalk celery, 1 carrot, 1 small white onion, 1 tbsp butter, 1 glass white wine.

Serves: 3 Preparation: 25 minutes

Because I'm a vegetarian, when I roast a chicken for my husband and son, there is inevitably a decent amount of meat remaining. As I always boil up the carcass for stock, chicken soup is often the next dish on the list - but why not utilise that lovely fresh stock and leftover meat for a chicken risotto?All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time.

1) Finely dice, or blitz in a food processor the carrot, onion and celery in preparation for your soffrito/mirepoix or "aromatics" as we so unromantically refer to this magical mixture in England. Transfer to a pan along with a generous knob of butter and sizzle sizzle sizzle away until the onion, celery and carrot are completely soft. This takes around 10 minutes by which time the carrot will have bleached down to a rather pleasing golden orange.

2) Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre. Add a good glug of white wine and continue stirring until it has cooked off, then add the first ladleful of stock.

3) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the chicken with the second to last ladle of stock. Serve hot, finishing with an indulgent dash of cream if you wish. Remember, risotto should be soupy, not solid!

Super-protein chicken salad

Ingredients Roast chicken, 1 pint chicken stock, 1/2 cup spelt, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup wild rice.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour

My beloved yet insane husband is doing Tough Mudder this week (please sponsor him!), and it is up to me to pump him full of protein, lest his muscles fail him and he die.
No pressure then! This salad, using leftover roast chicken and some of the stock made from the carcass has had him salivating at lunch time and is perfect picnic fodder too!

1) Spelt takes the longest to cook at 50 minutes. Soak it in cold water for 5 minutes, drain, then add it to the pan of chicken stock, stir through and leave to simmer.

2) Wild rice takes 30 minutes, so after 20 minutes add to the spelt and stir through.

3) Quinoa takes just 15 minutes, so add to the pan 15 minutes after the wild rice, stir through and leave to cook.

4) If you'd like to serve this hot, drain away any excess stock (though after the best part of an hour it should all have been absorbed or evaporated!), stir through the leftover chicken, season and serve. Otherwise allow the grains to cool before adding the chicken.

Cider & sage roast chicken soup

Ingredients Chicken, sage leaves, 1 maris piper potato, 1 can cider, chicken stock, onion

Serves: 4 Preparation: 2 hours (including chicken roasting time)

Despite being a vegetarian, I have a healthy respect for chicken soup. I've been making it all my life for people that I love, when they're sick or just deserve a treat. When we have people over and I roast a chicken for dinner, The Husband is usually more excited about the soup he knows I'll make than the luscious, juicy chicken itself. This soup, following my cider can chicken recipe is velvet textured from the potato, delicately flavoured with sweet sage and cider and stuffed chock full of melt-in-the-mouth chicken.

1) Peel and slice a white onion, and add to a stock pot along with the chicken carcass (ensure any good meat remaining is removed to add to the soup), the remaining cider from the can the chicken was sitting on and 1/2 pint of water. Simmer for 30 minutes and strain the liquid into a separate pan.

2) Set the liquid to cool in the fridge for an hour, then skim the fat from the surface. 

3) Blend the leftover slices of potato and add to a pan along with some leftover chicken meat, and the stock jelly.

4) Simmer on the hob for 30 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper and more chopped sage to taste.

Cider can chicken

Ingredients 3 maris piper potatoes per chicken, 1 can cider per chicken, sage leaves, butter

Preparation: 2 hours

When I roast a chicken, I stuff the cavity with pierced lemons, filling the inside with fragrant steam to make the meat moist and succulent. Cider can chicken works on the same principle - flavouring the chicken with the sweetness of the cider and sage. The French method of slicing potatoes to cook in the chicken juices makes a wonderful roast meal.

1) Massage a little butter into the skin of the chicken and stick sage leaves to the skin of the chicken.

2) Pour 1/3 of the cider out of the can, add some chopped sage to the remaining cider, then spread the legs of the chicken and sit it on top of the can. Press down until the chicken is balanced.

3) Cut the potatoes into cm thick slices, then arrange around the chicken.

4) Roast in the oven, basting at intervals to crisp up the skin, then remove carefully from the can and carve. Save the cider, some of the potates, chicken and the carcass to make stock for soup.

Champagne spelt risotto crusted chicken

Ingredients 1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, champagne, 1 cup spelt, chicken

Serves: 2 preparation: 1 hour


I have been cooking chicken a lot for The Husband recently (how strange to not be calling him The Boy any more. *terrified grown up moment*) and challenging myself to create ever more moist, tender chicken. The beer-can chicken was probably at the top of the succulent scale, but this gives it stiff competition. All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used.
1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Dice the onion roughly and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 
3) Add a glug of champagne, once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.


5) Form the risotto around the chicken in a protective shell and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes before serving.

Parmeggian & polenta chicken

Ingredients 1 egg, chicken breast, parmigiano, polenta, salt, pepper

Serves: 1 Preparation: 40 minutes


A crispy, breaded chicken breast doesn't have to be relegated to the level of sophistication reserved for freezer "food". This recipe is ridiculously simple but a definite people pleaser.


1) Whisk an egg and dip your chicken breast into it.


2) Roll the chicken breast in a shallow dish of polenta mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper until coated.


3) Set in an ovenproof dish and top with a layer of grated parmeggian and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Beer can chicken & macaroni soup

Ingredients      Leftover beer can chicken and   potato, macaroni, beer, oregano, white onion.

Serves: 2 preparation: 2 hours

When I finished making beer can chicken, I saved all of the components to make stock with, and then emerged this fabulously rich soup.

1) Peel and slice a white onion, and add to a stock pot along with the chicken carcass, slice of leftover potato, the remaining beer from the can the chicken was sitting on and 1/2 pint of water. Simmer for 30 minutes and strain the liquid into a separate pan.

2) Set the liquid to cool in the fridge for an hour, then skim the fat from the surface. 

3) Add one ladle of stock jelly to a pan along with 1/2 a cup of macaroni, chopped oregano and leftover chicken. Top up with a little hot water and simmer for 15 minutes until the pasta has cooked, then serve.

Beer can chicken

Ingredients     3 maris piper potatoes per chicken, 1 can beer per chicken, lemon rapeseed oil, butter,

Preparation: 2 hours


When I roast a chicken, I stuff the cavity with pierced lemons, filling the inside with fragrant steam to make the meat moist and succulent. Beer can chicken works on the same principle - flavouring the chicken with barley and hops. The French method of slicing potatoes to cook in the chicken juices makes a wonderful roast meal.


1) Massage a little butter into the skin of the chicken.


2) Pour 1/3 of the beer out of the can, then spread the legs of the chicken and sit it on top of the can. Press down until the chicken is balanced.


3) Cut the potatoes into cm thick slices and toss in a bowl with a little rapeseed oil, then arrange around the chicken.


4) Roast in the oven, basting at intervals to crisp up the skin, then remove carefully from the can and carve. Save the beer and carcass to make stock for soup.

Poached chicken

Ingredients Chicken breast, milk, butter, parsley.

Serves: 1 Preparation: 30 minutes

I have noticed in the last year or so a real return to what I call "nursery food" - those delicately flavourted, nurturing dishes that we ate as a child. Not so much bland food as simple, comforting food and it doesn't get much simpler than poached chicken. Chicken or fish can of course be poached in water but I have always favoured milk with a little parsley. This will make the most tender, moist, succulent chicken you've ever eaten.

1) Put your chicken breast skin side down in the pan and fill it with enough milk to cover it completely (I used a milk pan and about 3/4 pint of milk) and a little chopped parsley.

2) Allow the milk to come to the boil and then turn down the heat (do watch the pan because milk boils over very quickly and is not much fun to clean up!) allowing it to cook in the boiling milk for a further 10 minutes.

3) Turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan, allowing the chicken to rest in the hot milk for a further 10 minutes before serving - perfect just brushed with a little salted butter.

I served this with Mediterranean vegetables - peppers, courgette and tomatoes roasted in olive oil.

Yoghurt spiced chicken

Ingredients 8 Chicken legs, tablespoon cumin, tablespoon turmeric, 300ml Greek yoghurt, salt, black pepper.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 2 hours


1) Stir the turmeric and cumin into the yoghurt and season with salt and black pepper. Pour in the chicken legs and stir, making sure the chicken is thoroughly coated. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge.


2) Roast the chicken in the oven for one and a half hours at 170 degrees

Chicken, bacon & parmigiano burgers

Ingredients 4 chicken breasts, 3 rashers of unsmoked bacon, parmigiano, old bread. (makes 8 burgers)

1) Pulse 1 almost stale crust of bread in the blender until breadcrumbs form - set aside.


2) Mince 4 chicken breasts in the blender.
(Your butcher will be able to mince chicken breasts for you (it's rare to find minced chicken in a supermarket, though you could substitute turkey mince if you like which is more readily available and lean for those who are dieting)


3) Add the bacon rashers and pulse in the blender - this should form a sort of sticky meat ball so break it apart with a wooden spoon before adding the breadcrumbs and a generous knob of parmeggian, freshly grated.


4) Pulse in the blender until another meatball forms. This should not require seasoning due to the salty tang of the bacon and the parmeggian but this would be fabulously enhanced with some chopped parsley stirring through it.


5) Separate the ball into 8 patties by rolling a handful of meat and flattening it a little with the palm of your hand.


6) These are best cooked on a BBQ, or if you're dieting use a grilling machine which allows any fat to drain off. I cooked these in a pan for 10 minutes, turning continually and using the flat of a spatula to press the patty. 

Chicken & pancetta sartu

Ingredients Risotto rice (arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano - I would recommend carnaroli), white onion, vegetable stock, butter, basil oil, sherry, mushrooms, chicken, garlic, double cream, old bread.

Sartu is a sort of kiev made from risotto - baked in a bowl to form a crust on the outside and a soft gooey filling.

1) Prepare the bowl by rubbing butter on the inside, then coating with breadcrumbs (blitz old bread in a blender to form crumbs). Put the bowl in the fridge.


2) Crush 4 cloves of garlic and mix with butter and a tablespoon of parsley. Add into a pan with the strips of chicken. Sizzle the chicken for 2 minutes and then add a handful of finely chopped mushrooms and a drizzle of double cream. Stir through and simmer for 5 minutes before taking off the heat and setting aside. Stir through the pancetta once cool.


3) To make the risotto crust, finely dice a white onion and sizzle in a pan with some basil oil. Add the rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre. Pour in a glug of sherry and stir as it cooks off.


4) Add the first ladle of vegetable stock and stir through. Continue to stir the risotto, adding stock one ladle at a time as it cooks off. Once the risotto is ready, stir through 2 tablespoons of double cream and set aside to cool.


5) Take the crumbed bowl from the fridge and spoon a layer of risotto over the crumbs. Press firmly against the sides and imagine you're building an igloo! This has to stand up under its own weight so it needs to have firm sides.


6) Spoon the chicken, mushroom and pancetta mixture into the centre, then pack more risotto down over the filling. This will form the base of the sartu so make sure it is flat.


7) Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn it over onto a plate and cut into it to serve.

Chicken satay

Ingredients   Chicken, broccoli, bell pepper,     noodles, peanut butter (I like Whole Earth Foods), sherry, dark soy sauce, white wine vinegar, basil oil, cayenne pepper.

1) Scoop 3 tablespoons of peanut butter into a pan and allow it to melt. Stir the chicken pieces into the peanut butter and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.


2) Add 2 tablespoons of basil oil, a tablespoon of sherry, a tablespoon of dark soy sauce and a tablespoon of white wine vinegar to a wok. Add the chicken and stir through for 10 minutes.


3) Cut the florets from the broccoli stalk and put in some water to boil.


4) Slice a bell pepper and a handful of mushrooms and add to the pan with the chicken. Stir fry for a further 10 minutes then add the noodles. Stir fry for 5 minutes, drain the broccoli and stir it through before serving.

Chicken stuffed with spinach, fig & goats cheese

Ingredients Spinach, goats cheese, nutmeg,  chicken, parma ham, dischi volante, bell peppers, balsamic vinegar, pine nuts, passata, basil, basil oil, onion.

Spinach and figs are in season right now, so make the most of it!


1) Combine the spinach leaves, freshly grated nutmeg and goats cheese in a blender, slice a pocked into the side of your chicken and pack with the spinach mix, pine nuts and sliced figs. Rub a little of the spinach stuffing over the skin of the chicken, wrap the chicken in parma ham and bake.


2) To make the pasta sauce; roast slices of bell pepper in the oven until the skin blackens and blitz in the blender along with a handful of fresh basil. Set aside.


3) Sautee half a finely chopped white onion in basil oil and allow to completely soften. Stir through half a glass of red wine, then add passata tomatoes.


4) Stir in the roasted peppers, season with a pinch of salt and finish with a splash of balsamic vinegar before stirring the drained pasta into the sauce.

Chicken & mushroom linguine

Ingredients    Chicken breast, linguine, mushrooms,   double cream, sherry, white onion,dill, garlic, butter.

1) Finely dice a small white onion and sautee with butter and a little finely chopped dill until soft. Add a tablespoon of sherry and cook off.


2) Slice wafer thin pieces of mushroom and razor thin slices of garlic and stir through the butter, take off the heat and pour through some double cream. Pour the sauce over a chicken breast and bake in the oven.


3) Serve over linguine.

Pesto stuffed chicken

Ingredients Linguine, garden peas, pea shoots, basil, garlic, basil oil, pine nuts, cream cheese, chicken, bacon.

Following from my previous recipe - Linguine with pea pesto, this is a good serving suggestion, using the same creamy pesto to stuff the chicken.

1) Slice a pocket into the side of the chicken breast with a paring knife and stuff with two teaspoons of the pesto mix.

2) Seal the chicken with 2 - 3 slices of thin smoked bacon (or parma ham) and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Chicken and sage soup

Ingredients 1 roast chicken carcass, sage leaves, white onion

When I cook a Sunday roast for family or friends I tend to serve them the breast meat and save the legs, wings and carcass to make this fabulous chicken soup with.

1) Pick as much chicken meat from the carcass as possible and separate the wings and legs. If like me you are a vegetarian, ask someone to do this for you because otherwise you will look like this...

2) Bring a litre of water to the boil, add a handful of chopped sage leaves and a diced white onion along with the meat and chicken carcass and simmer for 1 hour in a stock pot.

3) Strain the chicken stock from the meat and bones with a colander and pick out the decent bits of meat from the bones.

4) I would recommend that you allow the stock to cool, covered in the fridge so that you can separate the fat (which will float to the top of the liquid and form a solid layer) and then add the meat and reheat. If you wish though you could just add the meat straight to the chicken stock, adding more sage if necessary and serve.