CHICKEN WITH SPELT

We had a great dinner last night, there was lots of chatting and a little reminiscing ...  We had our best man and his wife as well as a very old friend Hunts and his wonderful girlfriend Ems.

The reminiscing started when the conversation got round to anniversaries.  Rich and I celebrate our ten year anniversary on the 6th December.  Ems was quite surprised to hear the story of how Rich and I got together ... We met at a bar called the Road House in Covent Garden, had a very quick whirlwind romance and two weeks later walked out of Trailfinders with two round the world tickets.  We left just after Christmas and were away for eight months.  

I love the things you find out about each other when you all sit round a table together.

It made us all laugh when we realised that Mark had no idea that at his 25th Birthday I had had to introduce myself to all of his neighbours and promptly begg them to use their ovens ... His wife had organised for 30 of his friends to come for a surprise dinner and I had volunteered to help with the cooking ... the oven had been fitted incorrectly the morning of the party ... so Rosie and I spent the evening running up and down three flights of stairs with Fish Pie, Shephards Pie and Apple Crumble for thirty people, cooking in three different ovens in three different flats ... definitely a night I will always remember!

For me it is sharing stories and learning new things about friends that makes eating together so much fun.  If you fancy having some friends over for dinner then I would recommend cooking Chicken with Spelt ... it is my version of Nigella Lawson's Coq au Riesling ... sorry there is no photograph but they ate it all so there was nothing left to photograph this morning!

CHICKEN WITH SPELT - Serves 6

Ingredients 

180g Lardons, 2 Leeks, 8 Chicken Thigh Fillets, 1 Clove grated garlic, 1 bottle of white wine (Riesling or Pinot Grigio), 500ml Stock (made with Vegetable Bouillon Powder), 2 Sprigs of dried thyme, 200g Sliced chestnut mushrooms, 300g Spelt, 100ml Double cream, Olive oil, Salt and Pepper

• Add the lardons and a little olive oil to a large casserole dish.  Cook the lardons until crispy
• Slice the leeks into 1cm rounds and place in with the lardons.  
• Cook the leeks for a couple of minutes, until they have softened.  While the leeks are softening cut up the chicken into bite size pieces
• Add the garlic to the leeks and lardons, stir for a minute then add in the bottle of white wine, stock, chicken, thyme and mushrooms.
• Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and allow the chicken to simmer until it is cooked through and the mushrooms have wilted.  This should take about 10 minutes 
• After ten minutes season then add the spelt.  The spelt will take about 15-20 minutes to cook.  
• Once cooked mix in the cream and serve 

Cooking notes

I use a light white wine preferably Riesling but Pinot Grigio tastes great to.

If your guests are running late then allow the chicken to cook for the ten minutes, then turn the heat off.  Once your guests have arrived bring the mixture back up to a simmer and throw in the spelt.

 

Comments

[Simple Miss P]

mmm worth waiting for that sounds lovely. How much spelt did you use for 6 people? It is good to have something you can make in advance when you have people for dinner!

[Open Table]

300g Spelt ...