Nigella Lawson

MY MOTHER’S PRAISED CHICKEN

My Mother’s Praised Chicken is not so much a recipe as my family’s culinary fingerprint, the dish that says “Home” to me. And since my mother died so long before my children were born, by making it I feel they are getting to eat her food. The chicken itself is not quite poached, not quite braised, and so I settled on “praised” which feels exactly right, as for me both cooking and eating it feel like a devotional act.

Having said that, I don’t feel restricted to making it exactly as she did and nor do I expect you to. This is essentially part of that canon of free-form cooking that a recipe seems to argue against. So please feel free to improvise, adding ginger and chillies, replacing the vermouth or dry white wine with sake or Shaoxing wine (or leaving it out altogether) as wished. And while it’s eaten with rice in my family, there is no reason you have to follow suit. And finally, yes, it is drably unphotogenic, but the delicious comfort it delivers is profound.

SERVES 4-8

1 large chicken (preferably organic)

2 tsp garlic-infused olive oil

100ml white wine

2-3 leeks, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 7cm logs

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into batons

1-2 sticks celery, sliced about 2 litres cold water

1 bouquet garni (or 1 tsp dried herbs)

1 small bunch fresh parsley

2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp red peppercorns (or 2 tsp of good grinding pepper)

English mustard fresh dill, chopped

Get out a large, flame-safe cooking pot (with a lid) in which the chicken can fit snugly: mine is 28cm wide x 10cm deep.

On a washable board, untruss the chicken, put it breast-side down and press down until you hear the breastbone crack. (As you may imagine, I like this.) Then press down again, so that the chicken is flattened slightly. Now cut off the ankle joints below the drumstick (but keep them); I find kitchen scissors up to the task.

Put the oil in the pan to heat, then brown the chicken for a few minutes breast-side down. Turn up the heat and turn over the chicken, tossing in the feet as you do so. Add the wine or vermouth to the pan and let it bubble down a little before adding the leeks, carrots and celery.

Pour in enough cold water to cover the chicken, though the very top of it may poke out, then pop in the bouquet garni or your herbs of choice, and the parsley stalks (if I have a bunch, I cut the stalks off to use here, but leave them tied in the rubber band) or parsley sprigs.

Bring to a bubble, clamp on the lid, turn the heat to very low and leave to cook for 1½-2 hours. I tend to give it 1½ hours, then leave it to stand with the heat off but the lid still on for the remaining 20-30 minutes.

Nigella Lawson is a cook, broadcaster and food writer. She has written several best-selling cookbooks including Cook, Eat and Repeat