Chicken with Tarragon Salsa Verde

The last time my mum was coming to visit, I was looking through Nigellissima for inspiration.  I mentally bookmarked the Chicken with Tarragon Salsa Verde recipe.  When mum arrived, I handed her the book and asked for suggestions for dinner.  Guess what took her fancy?  Nigella explains why she lists weight of herbs - it's more about the ratio here, 1 part tarragon to 4 parts parsley.  As it was just the 2 of us, I halved the quantities, and we both enjoyed some leftovers the next day.  Here I'll put the full amount though.  Serves 6-8.

Ingredients
For the chicken:
2 x 15 mL tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken breast fillets (preferably organic and corn-fed) with skin on (turns out it's impossible to find chicken with skin on around here)
small bunch fresh tarragon (2 sprigs for chicken plus more leaves for sauce)
pepper (preferably white coarsely ground), to taste (so, just regular old black pepper for me)

For the sauce:
leaves from small bunch fresh parsley (approx. 20g)
leaves from sprigs fresh tarragon (approx. 5g)
1 spring onion (including green part), roughly chopped
zest 1 unwaxed lemon and juice 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes or 1/2 teaspoon pouring salt, or to taste
6 x 15 mL tablespoons olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a shallow ovenproof dish or roasting tin in which the chicken breast fillets will fit snugly and then arrange them in there skin-side up.  Tuck 2 sprigs of tarragon in between the chicken pieces, add a good grinding of pepper and dribble another tablespoon of oil over them, then pop them in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the skins are golden and flesh tender.
Take out of the oven, and let the cooked chicken stand for 5-10 minutes in the tin while you prepare the sauce.
Put the parsley and tarragon leaves, along with the spring onion, lemon zest, salt flakes and 3 tablespoons olive oil into a suitable receptacle and, using a stick blender, whizz to a paste, adding the lemon juice and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil slowly as you blend.  Leave for a mo (seriously, that's what she wrote), while you slice the chicken.
Cut the chicken into thickish - 1cm or so - slices (if you need it to go further, then slice more thinly) and arrange on a platter.
Pour any juices that have collected in the tin into the tarragon salsa and whizz again with your stick blender, tasting for seasoning before dribbling the sauce over the tender sliced chicken.

This was really yummy, and really easy, and really good for a hot weather dish.  No standing over a hot stove, just chuck stuff in the oven, whizz stuff up in the blender, make it look as pretty as desired, and done.  It just might be my second-favourite method of cooking chicken (after poaching), and the sauce component is just begging for variations.

Cardamom-Scented Chicken Curry

Step 1.  Find a friend with a beautiful, mouth-watering food blog.  In my case, eat, little bird.  See her post on Cardamom-Scented Chicken Curry, drool a little, and determine to cook it on the weekend.  On the Saturday morning, prepare to go to the shops to buy those couple of ingredients you think you'll need, then do a little skip when you discover you're fully stocked.  Do some practice instead.

Step 2.  On the Sunday, do some gardening, bake some fruit bread, and eat some fruit bread at about 2pm.  Go for a 13 km run, starting at about 5:30.  Start feeling hungry at about the 8 km mark.  Once returned, have a shower.

Step 3.  Gather ingredients.  1 large tomato (or, you know, 2 tomatoes if they're smallish and you really like tomato), 5-6 cardamom pods (squished a bit in the mortar and pestle), 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 400g chicken breast, 1 onion (chopped), 2 cm ginger (peeled and grated), 4 cloves grated garlic (although, unable to find the garlic, substitute shallots and chop finely), 1 tablespoon cornflour.  Forget how long it takes to prepare all these ingredients.  By 7:30, everything is only just prepared and you're quite hungry.  You apologise to your brother who walks in about now, thinking dinner will be at the almost-cooked stage instead of the about-to-start-cooking stage.

Step 4.  Heat about 4 tablespoons oil in a non-stick pan (or, just estimate).  Add the chopped onion, shallots and ginger, and fry until everything is softened.  Finely dice the tomatoes, and wonder how this was all meant to be done while things were heating.  Employ your brother to stir the contents of the pan while you chop.  He sees the 'few good lugs of oil' and thinks it must be a Jamie Oliver recipe.  Add the tomatoes and spices, and wish you had chillies growing already.  Add some chilli flakes instead.  Have brother keep stirring.

Step 5.  Add a splash of water and cook on high heat until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Add the chicken and saute until it's cooked.  Add 400 mL water and simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes.  Well, that's the intention.  Put on an episode of NCIS to watch while waiting, and stir the curry occasionally. 

Step 6.  When it's all curry-like, about 20 minutes into the cooking time, you will be so hungry (and tempted - it smells delicious) that enough is enough, and you serve.  Add a bit of chopped parsley from the garden (in the absence of coriander) to the top.  Even though it's meant to serve 4, both of you are so hungry you serve the whole curry.  And it's still not enough.  Some dried apricots and chocolate help fill you up while watching the new episode of NCIS that is finally shown.  Contemplate possible additions to the curry for next time - surprisingly, cabbage springs to mind.  Or the lentil dahl used in the inspiring blog post.

Step 7.  Cleaning up, you find the cornflour that was meant to be added to thicken things up... oops...  Next time, if needed.  Start thinking about the next couple of weeks, and when you might give this another go.  Put chicken on the shopping list, and go to bed.

Today's photo:

The seedlings have sprouted.  I noticed 2 lettuce seedlings yesterday, but this morning there was a very small sprinkling of green in the spinach area.  So exciting!!!  I feel I have my gardening mojo back.

Kathmandu

Last night I went to Kathmandu for dinner. 

I taught this girl from when she was in grades 8 - 11... She's now in grade 12, and her mum called me a few weeks ago.  "I'm so sorry", she said.  "She's giving up everything, even debating... Can we have you over for dinner?"  I understand grade 12 students cutting back and focusing on study, so I wasn't upset with them.  I remember being at that stage of life, and although I still had violin lessons, there was a phone call around the end of August of that year from my violin teacher.  "I'm putting exam entries in tonight.  Yes or no?" Ummmmm.........No.  Like many other students, I wanted to focus on getting good grades.

So, dinner last night.  Originally the plan was for me to go to their place for dinner, but their life has been rather hectic so they took me to Kathmandu instead.  I had passed this little restaurant several times and always thought, that looks nice, but never eaten there.  It's good.  And, apparently (according to a Nepalese colleague of this girl's mother), authentic.  We all shared, of course. 

Starters: Tibetan bread (yum!), vegetarian and meat momos, and pakoras.  I'd had momos before, at the Tibetan Kitchen in the Valley, but not the other selections.  Sometimes food, sometimes food.

Main: ummm, No. 54.  I think it was called Goru ko masu (apologies to any Nepalese reading this...).  The main thing is, slow cooked beef with cardamom, chili, coriander, cumin.  I love all the 'C' spices.  Plus I tried the very delicious Sherpa Chicken and Pesto Chicken. 

We ordered coffees, and our waiter let us know it was organic coffee so it might taste a little different.  I've not had that before - but as I use organic coffee myself, and try to go to coffee places that use organic, it tasted normal for me. 

I was going to take a photo of at least one of the food items, but we were in a dimly lit area so I didn't even try.  Obviously, I'll have to go back.... And maybe next time, try the floor cushion seating instead of a regular table.  This restaurant is on Latrobe Tce, Paddington, if anyone wants some traditional Nepalese yumminess, aromatic yet light curries, and gentle, lovely wait staff.