Posie’s Place

Last night I was watching the new series from Nigella Lawson called Nigella Express. As you would expect from the title it’s about cooking great tasting food with minimal effort and time. The episode I watched showed Nigella’s take on an Alsacian classic, “Coq Au Riesling”. Living in here in Basel on the doorstep of Alsace good Alsacian wine is not difficult to come by so I decided I’d put Nigella’s claims to the test.  So here it is..

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 50g bacon lardons
• 2 Large garlic colves finely chopped (Nigella used garlic oil)
• 1 leek, finely sliced
• ” Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed (Nigella used chicken thighs)
• 2 dried bay leaves (Nigella used 3 fresh bay leaves)
• 150g Chestnut mushrooms, sliced (10g oyster mushrooms, torn into strips)
• 1 x 75cl bottle Riesling wine
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• dash double cream (optional) (I didn’t use any)
• 1-2 tbsp chopped fresh dill, to serve
• Buttered noodles, to serve

PREPARATION

1. Add the oil to the pan and fry the lardons.
2. Add the leek and allow to soften for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the chicken, mushrooms, bay leaves and wine.
4. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
5. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes.
6. If you want to use cream then add this just before serving.
7. Serve with buttered noodles and sprinkle with chopped dill.

recipe, food

This dish took only about 10 minutes to prepare since I used pre-chopped chicken breast, cleaned and trimmed organic leeks and smoked lardons. After the preparation stage then everything goes into the pot and simmered away. So this gets the complete thumbs up for flavour, simplicity and speed!

Thanks Nigella!!