Recipes, Chicken Recipes

Val’s poached chicken recipe

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An absolute favourite, this poached chicken recipe is delightfully tasty and offers an almost medicinal respite after days of indulgence. Clean, light, and easy to prepare, it’s a comforting choice that’s perfect for resetting your palate. Plus, any leftovers can be effortlessly transformed into a nourishing broth – perhaps with the addition of barley for extra texture and heartiness.

Summer Poached Chicken with Cucumber Relish

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the Cucumber Sauce

Method

Poach the Chicken

  1. Take a large pot with a lid and place it over medium heat.
  2. Toast the coriander seeds until their aroma rises, then turn off the heat.
  3. Place the chicken at the bottom of the pot and cover it with cold water.
  4. Arrange the vegetables snugly around the chicken and add the herbs, spices, and 3 tsp. of flaked sea salt. It may seem like a lot, but the stock needs it.
  5. Turn the heat back on and bring the pot to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a slow wobble, cover with the lid, and check the heat after a few minutes to ensure it remains steady.
  6. Cook the chicken for about an hour or until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 75°C.

Make the Cucumber Sauce and Serve

  1. While the chicken cooks, sprinkle 1 tsp. of flaked sea salt over the cucumber and let it drip-drain in a sieve over a bowl.
  2. After an hour, wring out as much liquid as possible from the cucumber and transfer it to a serving bowl.
  3. Stir the remaining ingredients into the cucumber and mix well.
  4. Serve the carved chicken with some of the cooking juices, the vegetables, and the cucumber mixture as a side.

Shop the ingredients

Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.