I've been meaning to attempt a poached chicken dish for some time now. It's such a healthy and succulent way to cook chicken and the flavour possibilities are pretty limitless. By 'pulling' or shredding the chicken before serving, it makes the meat go a long way and gives it a fabulous texture for salads or sandwich fillings, cold or hot dishes.
I'm going to show you this garlic and lemon-infused version today, but have a play with seasonings and flavours as I feel this dish has much potential for experimentation.
I served mine (above), with some delicious Italian Caramelized Yellow Peppers with Capers.
(Click HERE for recipe).
(Click HERE for recipe).
For the Poached Chicken
Each serving is 4pp/approx 180kcal
(Perfect for Filling & Healthy or Simple Start)
(Perfect for Filling & Healthy or Simple Start)
You Will Need:
165g raw skinless chicken breast per person (4pp/approx.180kcal)
1 lemon
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon stock powder
White and Black Pepper
Cold water
Fresh herbs
***
In the base of a saucepan, place the stock powder, the lemon (halved and slightly squeezed) and the head of garlic with the top sliced off. Half fill the pan with cold water and add the chicken, seasoning and herbs.
Bring to the boil slowly, then allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the chicken sit in the hot water for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Once cool enough to handle, place the cooked chicken on a plate and 'pull' or 'shred' it using 2 forks. The beauty of this dish is that each breast is 1 portion, so you don't need to re-weigh to allocate your servings.
The texture should be really fine and soft but with some 'bite'.
Pop the soft, cooked, sweet garlic cloves out of their shells and mash into the chicken. Squeeze the jam-like, boiled, bitter lemon flesh onto the chicken and mix in. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
***
If the chicken is going to be used warm or cold in a salad or sandwich, add 1 tablespoon Extra Light Mayonnaise (0pp/10kcal)per portion to help bind it together.
***
The flavours are delicate, so you could add some chopped spring onion or soy sauce for a Chinese slant...some curry spices and sultanas for a Coronation chicken vibe... Just remember to add the propoints for any ingredients which contain them.
***
Soft, shredded, delicious and delicate.
2 comments:
What a superb recipe. Couldn't wait to taste it. I would say my peppers were a bit too caramelised as far as looks are concerned and maybe I had them on too high a light. Everything else was perfect and and a most unusual flavours. Shall definitely do it again and pay more attention to frying peppers and less to shredding chicken!!!!! Well worth the effort and thanks for this.
Ahhh thanks so much for letting me know how it turned out.....as I said-you can't rush those peppers! So sorry they over-cooked....better luck next time! xxx
Post a Comment