Coronation chicken salad
Unleash the corgis and guzzle the Pimms… it’s coronation time! Well it was. Concocted by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume from the London Le Cordon Bleu for Elizbeth 2’s anointing, coronation chicken was a mess of cold chicken, curried mayonnaise sauce, dried apricots and almonds, served as a salad or piled into perfect, crustless sandwiches.
Think “the Raj meets post-war British food shortages” and you’ve got the gist. Despite doubts, we thought I’d give the 1953 dish a red hot go in honour of the recent tiara-fest. And actually, it wasn’t too bad! We added potatoes, because why not, and some cute little cukes, which we peeled because we don’t reckon Their Madges would sanction anything so vulgar as vegetable skin. We cook chicken breast the way I do in this recipe (steam-baking) because we find flashing the chook in a hot oven in a sealed pan with some water, then letting it rest and finish cooking in its own good time, gives juicy results for lean, skinless breast. But really, cook your bird bits however you damned well like because it’s your kitchen and you are its ruler. Leftover roast chicken would work too for worms like us but not, clearly, for the freshly minted grand pooh-bah and his consort.
SERVES 4
600g chicken breast fillets (about 3), preferably skin-on
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
600g all-purpose potatoes (about 3 large), peeled and halved lengthwise.
450g cukes (teeny tiny, baby cucumbers, about 9), peeled and sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
80g (½ cup) dried apricots, finely sliced
I bunch watercress, washed, dried and sprigs picked
80g (¾ cup) flaked almonds, toasted
Dressing
310g (1¼ cups) whole-egg mayonnaise
4 tsp hot curry powder, or to taste
3 tsp finely grated ginger
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
2 tbsp lime juice, or to taste
3 tbsp sweet mango chutney, or to taste
For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine well. Taste, adjust anything you’d like more of, then season with salt and pepper. Stir in 2 tbsp warm water, or enough to thin it to a light coating consistency.
Preheat the oven to 220C. Place a medium fry pan with an oven proof handle over high heat. Add the olive oil, then when it shimmers, add the chicken to the pan breast side down. Cook for about 1 minute or until sealed, then turn the chicken over and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Working quickly, add about 125ml (½ cup) water to the pan, taking care as it will steam. Remove the pan from the heat, cover it with a tight fitting lid or cover tightly with foil, then transfer to the oven.Cook for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven – the chicken will not quite be cooked through. Stand it at room temperature, still tightly covered, for 20 minutes to rest and finish cooking. Cool the chicken to room temperature.
Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling, salted water for 20 minutes or until just cooked through. Cool to room temperature, then slice. Remove any skin from the chicken, then thinly slice. Combine in a large bowl with all the remaining ingredients, using half the almonds. Toss to combine, then drizzle with the dressing and gently toss to coat. Divide among plates, scatter over the remaining almonds, then serve.
