I am truly a lucky woman. I married a man who can seriously cook some delicious food! Although he’s really busy, he still takes time to cook something once in a while, which I am super thankful for! If you’ve followed me for a while now, you would have seen some of his creations : Hainanese chicken rice, roasted beef ribs, homemade bacon and polenta chips!
I’m not sure if you remember seeing this dish on Masterchef last year, but this was a dish by the ever so talented – Maggie Beer! The Mr wanted to make it the moment he saw it and boy am I glad he did. It was absolutely delicious! Tedious to prep, but all the hard work definitely paid off! Just imagine golden crispy chicken skin (like yum!) and the meat is just succulent and full of flavour on the inside! Together with the tomato chutney, it’s just the perfect pair!
The trickiest part of the dish is probably skinning the whole chicken and keeping the skin whole, making sure there are no holes! The Mr did such a good job! He got it out in one go! Don’t think I would be able to do it. haha
So here’s the recipe from Maggie Beer! Give it a try, the hard work is definitely worth every delicious bite!
Chicken Money Bag with Preserved Lemon and Tomato Chutney (Recipe closely adapted from Maggie Beer, Serves 3)
For the chicken :
50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tbs olive oil
3 shallots, finely chopped
225g white button mushrooms, sliced
1 tbs lemon thyme leaves, chopped
1/3 cup white wine (I didn’t have Verjuice)
1.8kg whole chicken
100g chicken fat, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbs preserved lemon rind, chopped
1 1/4 tbs tarragon, chopped
15g sea salt flakes
1 egg
For the Preserved Lemon & Tomato Chutney :
1 1/2 tbs Olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 cup white wine (Use Verjuice if you have it!)
800g tomato, roughly chopped
100g preserved lemon, rinsed and chopped
110ml Red wine vinegar
90g caster sugar
Steps :
1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
2) Place a heavy based pan over medium-high heat, add butter and heat until it has turned nutty brown. Add olive oil, shallots and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add thyme, toss to combine, and season with salt.
3) Deglaze the pan with white wine and cook until it is sticky and reduced. Place mushroom mixture in a large bowl, and set aside to cool.
4) Skin chicken and place in a bowl. Remove chicken marylands, roughly chop leg and thigh meat, then pulse in a food processor to a coarse paste. Add chicken fat and pulse to combine. Remove breasts and cut into two centimeters dice.
5) Finely chop mushroom mixture, then add the preserved lemon rind and tarragon to cooled mushroom mixture and mix until well combined. Add chicken leg mixture, diced chicken breast, sea salt flakes and egg to the bowl and slap the mixture against the side of the bowl until combined.
6) Cut chicken skin into three even triangular shaped pieces.
7) Over a 6cm springform baking tin, place a sheet of cling wrap, then spread skin over.
8) Add chicken mixture, bring each end of the skin together to create a pouch, then place in the fridge for ten minutes to allow the skin to set.
9) Invert baking tins onto a baking tray and carefully lift tins to remove. The skin should remain neatly tucked underneath, holding the parcel together as it cooks.
10) Place baking tray into oven, and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the skin is golden brown. If you have a meat thermometer, check to see that the internal temperature has reached 62 degrees celcius.
11) Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.
12) For the chutney : Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for five minutes until softened and translucent. Add garlic and rosemary, and cook for two minutes.
13) Deglaze the pan with white wine then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced to about two cups and a chutney-like consistency. Remove from heat, and place into a bowl to cool. Season to taste with salt.
14) To serve : Slice the chicken money bags and serve on the tomato chutney. Enjoy! (:
Enjoy the coming weekend everyone! (: Hope this has inspired you to cook something special for your loved ones this weekend! Remember to always cook and bake with love!
Till the next post, xx