Food

Coronation chicken – the original version

Having a Jubilee street party, or perhaps a family buffet over the bank holiday weekend? On this occasional of all occasions, some Coronation chicken is in order, but there’s no need to buy supermarket versions when the original recipe – created, as the name suggests, to mark the Queen’s Coronation – is so easy to make. The recipe was invented by Constance Spry for a celebratory banquet, and its spicy background note gives a nod to the days of British Empire. And here’s a thing: it’s not that vibrant yellow colour! Well worth a go, this. I used mine in sandwiches, but also as a baked potato filling. INGREDIENTS

Chicken (about 500g fillet pieces, chopped into bite-sized chunks) Tbsp olive oil A medium sized onion (chopped) 2 tsp curry powder (I used medium heat) Tsp of tomato puree 60ml red wine (what you do with the rest of the bottle is up to you) 60ml water A bay leaf 1 tbsp lemon juice ¼ tsp sugar 1 tbsp dried apricots, chopped finely 200g mayonnaise 125g whipping cream (or crème fraiche, if you’re watching the calories) Salt and pepper to season

METHOD Cook the chicken according to the packet instructions. Mine was done in 30 minutes or so at 170 fan. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat, add the onion, bay leaf, and curry powder. Cook for two minutes. Add the tomato puree, wine, and water. Bring to a boil, then add the lemon juice and sugar and season. Simmer for two minutes, remove from the heat, strain through a sieve, and set the sauce aside. In a bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, cream, and apricots and add the sauce and the chicken. Mix well and serve!

A tasty, easy trifle

For a Jubilee celebration in the summer, what could be a better dessert than a good old-fashioned trifle? It’s the ultimate crowd pleaser than can be as simple or as complicated as you like. But as we’re all short of time these days, here’s a cheat’s version of the classic that really is a doddle. INGREDIENTS

750g fruit (frozen berries work well) 190g sponge (any type of sponge cake, but fruity Swiss roll works well) 30g Amaretti biscuits 300ml whipping cream 500g can of custard

METHOD Get a good deep trifle dish. Sponge at the bottom, with the biscuits sprinkled over for crunch. Then add most of the fruit, dripping nicely, to ooze into that receptive base. The next layer is the custard (yes, a tin, because who has time to make custard?). Then take a whisk, hand-held or electric (you can probably guess at this point which I prefer) and get that cream to a nice peaky consistency. Finally, top off with the reserved fruit and maybe even a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands for some festive colour.

Darren Norbury

• In our last issue we inadvertently forgot to credit our good friend, Danny Rouncefield, AKA The Cornish Chef, for his fabulous suet pastry sausage roll recipe. Sorry, Danny! Danny’s currently specialising in dinner parties, pop-ups and cookery classes. Find out more at thecornishchef.co.uk