CHEF and blogger Paul James writes for our paper.
IT WAS 1977 and I remember I was only just five years old, it was a lovely sunny day at West Heath Infant School in Birmingham and we were celebrating the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
The school was holding a fancy hat competition to mark the special day – now I was feeling a little apprehensive, even at five years old.
It wasn’t because of the people turning up, it wasn’t even because of the nerves you would think a little boy would have in front of parents, family, friends and teachers – no not at all.
What it was, well let me explain – my mum worked at West Heath Hospital for the elderly, just across the road.
She decided to make and design my Silver Jubilee Hat, no problem. But despite working in the hospital, the stores in fact with all the obvious things like small boxes, coloured paper, etc at hand, she instead decided the best thing to use was the standard issue cardboard bedpan. I had an old person’s potty on my head.
I’m not going to lie when parading around the school playground with this tight fitting hat with streams of red, white and blue crepe paper flowing behind me, it suddenly occurred to me that please God I just hope it was a new bedpan, fresh out of the wrapper.
Safe to say I didn’t win, but my mum, God bless her did make a good job of covering the rigid, patterned grey bedpan with the array of bright colours!!
Moving swiftly on to my dish to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
I decided to make, yes you’ve guessed it – Coronation Chicken.
The recipe ‘Poulet Reine Elizabeth’ now widely known as ‘Coronation Chicken’ had been created by Le Cordon Bleu, in London to be served at the Coronation luncheon in 1953.
This is my take on the classic dish.
Enjoy and God save the Queen.
Visit recipesfrommytravels.com for more on Paul’s blog and recipes.
Coronation Chicken Terrine
INGREDIENTS
1 fresh chicken, cooked thoroughly and shredded into a bowl (being extra careful to remove all bones and gristle)
3 eggs hard boiled, peeled
2 courgettes cut into ribbons with a potato peeler
150ml mayonnaise
1tsp tomato puree
1tsp of turmeric
3tsp of mild curry powder
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
2tbsp mango chutney
Fresh tarragon finely chopped
METHOD
1. Line a loaf or terrine tin with clingfilm.
2. Assemble strips of courgette widthways in rows along the bottom, over lapping slightly as you go,
3. Then lay the strips lengthways at each end so the tin is completely lined and snug.
4. Put the shredded chicken in a bowl then mix in the mayonnaise, tomato puree, curry powder, lemon juice and zest, mango chutney, tarragon and turmeric.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper, you can add more lemon juice or curry powder if you wish.
6. Spoon a third of the chicken mixture into the terrine, then place the whole, peeled eggs in a line down the centre and finish with the rest of the chicken mixture and level it off.
7. Fold over the courgette slices that are overhanging, press down and chill in the fridge for at least two hours before slicing and serving.
