Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Chicken with Leek and Asparagus

Snakes alive! This is rapidly becoming the year of the snake. Remember, a couple of posts ago, I told you about finding a snakeskin in our roof space? Well, since then we have been finding the real thing. This one was in our shed, yikes!



We have been reliably informed that he is not poisonous, and we should leave him alone as he will kill any mice in there, although I'm sure the cats won’t be too pleased about the competition. We have named him Hissing Sid. Needless to say, I give the shed a very wide berth and let Mick deal with him.

This chap had to be evacuated from our garage, fortunately, he left with good grace.



Anyway, snakes aside, on with the recipe. This is another one from the BBC, but I made quite a few changes to it. In the first place it called for the chicken to be flambéed in brandy. Now, I don’t know about you, but if there’s any brandy lying around the kitchen it does not go in the food! And, I didn’t like the idea of flambéing, as I would probably burn the house down, so I just bunged in some white wine.

Also the original recipe said to use asparagus and shallots, but having enjoyed the leek and asparagus combo in the tart, I decided to use leeks. Anyway, if you’re interested in burning your house down and want to have a go at flambéing, be my guest, you’ll find the original recipe here:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10599/flambed-chicken-with-asparagus

This is my version, and the end result was really rather nice, Mick declared it a keeper.

Chicken and Asparagus




Ingredients:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
A few tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Black pepper, to taste
2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, sliced
¼ cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
10-12 asparagus spears, halved
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped basil

Directions:
  • Coat chicken with flour
  • Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over a medium heat, add chicken and a generous grind of black pepper and cook until browned on both sides. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
  • In same pan, sauté leeks for a couple of minutes until softened.
  • Return chicken to pan, add the white wine and cook until wine has reduced a bit.
  • Stir in the stock and bring to boil, reduce heat and cook chicken for about 15 minutes.
  • Add the asparagus and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  • Stir in the cream and chopped basil and cook for a couple more minutes until cream has warmed but don’t let it boil.

Serve with some steamed basmati rice.





12 comments:

Jennifer said...

YUM that looks delicious, it is Asparagus season around here and I am trying to think of ways to use it! p.s. If I had that snake in my yard, I would MOVE

Jan said...

OMG I would have died if I'd found this or any other snake!
Your recipe sounds and looks totally DELISH! I will have to give this a go.

David Hall said...

Nice recipe, can't say the same about that snake, AAAGHH!!!

Lyndas recipe box said...

Yikes, that's too many snakes for me! But the recipe looks amazing Jan.
Thanks for sharing it!

Chef Dennis Littley said...

what a great recipe! but the snakes would have to go....lol..time to buy a mongoose!!

chow and chatter said...

oh my those are big snakes I am a Brit in NC, thanks for visiting my blog, your is fun

Rebecca

Recipe for Delicious said...

I was positively drooling before I even finished reading this recipe. And that's saying a lot for a post that started with pictures of scary snakes!

Jason said...

I thought I might have stumbled upon a "Safari Blog" but realized you are just full of suprises! I can't believe you left the snake in there, I'd rather deal with the mice :O)
Oh, the chicken and asparagus recipe looks devine!

Pam said...

I am loving this recipe - it looks so rich, creamy and delicious. Having a snake in my shed would freak me out.

test it comm said...

What a tasty way to enjoy some asparagus!

Unknown said...

That snake was huge! I'm glad you were able to get it out of your garage safely. On a lighter note, that chicken looks delicious! I absolutely love asparagus, will be trying this recipe out very very soon :)

Trucker Redbeard said...

That second snake bears a striking resemblance to a western diamondback rattlesnake (no pun intended). Just judging from the posture and head shape, I'd say it's one of the many species of vipers that inhabit northeastern Oklahoma. Please don't approach it.