How to make chicken with mushrooms, peas and spring vegetables, a one-pot seasonal meal – with a bonus dessert recipe
- Which spring vegetables you use for this one-pot dish is up to you; the recipe calls for morels, but you can use porcini, chanterelles or other wild mushrooms
- Eat it with some crusty bread and a salad. Follow it with lemon posset, an easy-to-make dessert
This is a perfect spring meal, with the whole main course – meat, vegetables and starch – served in one pan.
The only thing you need to add is crusty bread, either home-made or shop-bought, and perhaps a green salad with a sharp vinaigrette. The dessert requires several hours to set.
Chicken with morels, petits pois and spring vegetables
The vegetable list in this recipe is just a suggestion; feel free to substitute whatever fresh, seasonal young vegetables you can find, such as ramps and zucchini (or other squash). You can also use other wild mushrooms, including porcini and chanterelles.
This recipe makes use of almost the entire chicken, minus the head: the rendered fat is used to cook the dish and the bones are made into broth. Any excess fat and broth should be refrigerated and used within a week, or frozen for longer storage.
For the best flavour, salt the chicken pieces for at least six hours, or up to a day in advance. This allows the salt to penetrate the meat, rather than just staying on the surface.
Ingredients:
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1 chicken, about 1.2kg (42 oz)
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Flour, for dredging
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Oil, for pan-frying
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15 grams (½ oz) dried morels
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1 or 2 small stalks of thyme
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8-12 shallots, peeled
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8-12 garlic cloves, peeled
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200 grams (7 oz) small potatoes, such as ratte or fingerling
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6-8 thick stalks of asparagus
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6-8 small, slender carrots
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75 grams (2⅔ oz) frozen petits pois
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100ml (¼ cup + 2 tbsp) + 2 tsp) dry white wine
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Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
