Hay Chicken Dinner and French Bar Food - Thanksgiving Inspiration
Thanksgiving dinner inspiration. The perfect turkey alternative. This meal from my birthday had lots of classic elements that would be great for your Thanksgiving this year.
While I made this dinner for my birthday in September, I could not help thinking how perfect many of the elements would be at Thanksgiving. Thought I'd share some of the images and recipes here in case you can take something out of it! The chicken in hay would be a fantastic turkey alternative.
Menu
Cheese straws cheddar and Comte version (video and recipe coming soon)
Radishes sea salt unsalted butter
Brie/ Camembert/ dried apricots laid on plates
( potatoes au gratin or potatoes and cream would also be great here)
Salad with Dijon dressing from La Buvette
Cognac ( Pierre Ferand)
In addition to the above, I feel like I laid out some chocolate covered milk chocolate and salted potato chips from Old KY Chocolate, chocolate espresso beans and ginger from Trader Joe’s, and some Rosemary Almonds also from Trader Joe’s in varying parts of the downstairs.
Chicken in Hay
I made this recipe for the chicken in hay. I was interested in the star anise and cinnamon sticks scenting the hay around the chicken and the duck fat used under the skin . I seasoned my chicken with salt and pepper the night before which is best if you have the time. I just put plastic wrap over the Dutch oven it was in .
Matt Moran's chicken roasted in spiced hay with lemon stuffing
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for Chicken roasted in spiced hay with lemon stuffing from Matt Moran at Chiswick
INGREDIENTS
1 chicken (1.6kg)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Lemon stuffing
80 gm sourdough bread, crusts removed
80 ml milk (⅓ cup)
1½ tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 golden shallots, coarsely chopped
80 gm duck fat
1 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp coarsely chopped rosemary
1 tbsp thyme
Finely grated rind of 2 lemons
Spiced hay
250 gm unsprayed lucerne hay (see note)
10 cinnamon quills
10 star anise
2 tbsp each fennel seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds
Thinly peeled rind of 2 lemons and 2 oranges
METHOD
Main
1
Preheat oven to 180C. For lemon stuffing, combine bread and milk in a bowl, stand until bread softens (10 seconds), drain and squeeze out excess milk (discard). Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add garlic and shallot, stir occasionally until tender (4-5 minutes), cool, then combine in a food processor with bread mixture and remaining ingredients. Season to taste, process to combine and set aside.
2
Gently separate the skin from chicken breasts with your fingers, then spoon in a little stuffing and spread evenly across breast by gently running your hand over skin to smooth out. Spoon remaining stuffing into cavity, seal with a skewer, season chicken to taste and set aside.
3
For spiced hay, combine ingredients in a large casserole with a tight-fitting lid, mix well to combine and set aside.
4
Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat, add chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over. Place on top of hay mixture, cover and roast until just cooked through (1½ hours-1 hour 40 minutes). Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.
5
Preheat a char-grill pan over high heat, grill lemon wedges until slightly charred and serve with hot hay-roasted chicken.
NOTES
Lucerne hay is available from select agricultural suppliers.
This recipe is from the May 2012 issue of
.
Drink Suggestion: Wine suggestion 2010 Gonnet Père & Fils, Côtes du Rhône Villages, France. Drink suggestion by Matthew Dunne
Here is the link to the hay I used :