Pimp up your chicken dinner with these chef tips

Struggling to find new ways to cook with chicken? Two of Queensland’s best chefs reveal their secrets for how you can pimp up Australia’s most popular meat.

Chicken — it’s Australia’s most popular meat.

Loved for its affordability, ease of cooking and general acceptance by the whole family, we consume around a whopping 47kg of the poultry per person every year.

But when you’re cooking chicken week in, week out, finding new ways to jazz up the humble bird can be tough — no doubt why it tops the recipe searches on Taste.com.au each month.

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So to help you reinvigorate your standard chicken dinner (or lunch) we asked the advice of two of the Queensland’s best chefs: Spencer Patrick from Harrisons by Spencer Patrick in Port Douglas and the Sheraton Grand Mirage and former YoYo, Noosa chef Ash Warncken.

Chicken braised with tarragon, witlof and leeks.

SPICE IS NICE

For the easiest way to pimp up your chicken, think spices, says Warncken.

“Chicken has a very delicate flavour and can be elevated with the use of some common spices you may already have in your pantry,” he says.

His go-to at home is the fiery Portuguese rub Piri Piri, served with a cooling salad to calm down the heat.

“I simply blend together a few fresh bay leaves, salt, red chilli, a couple of birds eye chillies -depending on your level of heat tolerance — dried oregano, a couple of fresh garlic cloves, sweet smoked paprika, olive oil, half a lemons worth of juice and a tablespoon or so of brown sugar to balance the bold flavours and also get that caramelisation when barbecuing later,” he says.

Crunchy chicken marylands. Picture: taste.com.au

He recommends rubbing the mix on to marylands, but says you can use any cut you feel like, and leaving to marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours, or overnight if time allows.

“I barbecue it to achieve that caramelisation, but the oven does the trick just fine too.”

While for British expat Patrick, his favourite way to spice up chicken is with what he calls his English version of KFC.

“I get Paxo stuffing mix and hot English mustard powder and add them together,” he says.

He puts the spice mix in zip lock bags and dips chicken drumsticks, thighs and wings into buttermilk before coating in the spice mix. He also recommends doing a double crumbing, by repeating the process a second time.

“You then just deep fry them to golden brown and that’s something really cool,” he says.

Tarragon Chicken Tray Bake

HERB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

“Herbs are an inexpensive way to add flavour and freshness to your chicken dishes,” says Warncken.

“To make a simple but delicious chicken tarragon, sear some chicken breast in hot olive oil (30 seconds on each side), add some thickened cream, chopped fresh tarragon, a squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper and let reduce until the chicken is cooked,” he says and suggests serving it with roast potatoes and green beans.

Patrick’s top pick is to make a chicken saltimbocca with salsa verde.

“It used to be a customer favourite at our old Bucci restaurant (in Port Douglas) — people just loved it,” he says.

A dish of tarragon roast chicken with leek and pancetta stuffing by Sarah Hobbs. Picture: Ian Wallace

To recreate it at home, Patrick says place some cling wrap on your bench, then lay strips of pancetta on top followed by a couple of sage leaves down the middle. Top with a chicken breast and then tenderise the bird with a meat mallet, which will also help bond the pancetta and sage to the breast. Cover the breast in the cling wrap and leave it overnight in the fridge to firm up.

To cook it, simply bring a pan to medium-high heat, add a splash of olive oil and cook the chicken, pancetta side down, until golden. Then transfer it to an oven preheated to 180C fan-forced and roast until cooked through.

Serve it with a salsa verde made in a mortar and pestle using equal amounts of basil, coriander, spring onion tops and mint, along with some capers, lemon zest, salt, pepper and enough olive oil to bring it together.

MARINATE IT

Marinades are another super simple way of adding interest to the white meat, say our chefs.

Patrick’s ultimate crowd pleaser is a lemon honey chicken inspired by a Chinese restaurant he used to frequent in Cairns.

“You marinate thin strips of chicken in lemon zest, coriander, sesame oil and soy,” he says.

Then make a batter using the zest of one lemon, 2 tbsp honey, 200g self-raising flour, 1 egg white and enough milk to make a slurry consistency.

Dip the chicken in the batter and shallow fry until golden. Meanwhile, make the lemon honey sauce by melting together 300ml honey, 10g toasted sesame seeds and the juice of 1 lemon. Toss the fried chicken pieces in the sauce until coated and serve with Asian greens.

“My kids love that,” Patrick says.

Roasted chicken in a pan with lemon, garlic and rosemary

ROAST WITH THE MOST

Both chefs say you can’t beat a classic roast chook and each have their beloved recipes.

“A whole roast chicken is one of my favourite things in life. It brings back many memories of fighting for the stuffing at my family dinner table,” says Warncken.

“Delectable gravy made with the roasting pan juices is a must, along with roasted vegetables tossed together with rosemary, thyme and garlic.”

Warncken says start by making the stuffing. Cook some diced pancetta in olive oil until crispy. To the pan add finely diced shallot and garlic and cook until aromatic. Add a generous amount of butter and cook until melted, then add enough panko breadcrumbs until you achieve a stuffing-like consistency. Season with salt and pepper and add some finely chopped parsley and rosemary and stuff the cavity of your bird. Truss the legs and cook in a medium oven (about 180C fan-forced) for about an hour, or until a knife inserted into the legs draws a clear liquid. Remove your chicken from the oven tray, let rest, and continue to cook the pan juices with a little butter until reduced to gravy like consistency.

Meanwhile, for Patrick’s ultimate roast chicken he suggests stuffing a bird with two halved lemons and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter. He then releases the skin from the breast and puts a layer of butter underneath the skin before seasoning the whole chook with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a high-sided roasting tray with about 500ml of water and roast at 150C fan-forced for 30 minutes. Then turn up the heat to 180C fan-forced and continue to roast for another 20 minutes, basting the bird every five minutes. When it’s done, rest it in the tray for 25 minutes.

Chargrilled Portuguese chicken piri piri.

BEST OF THE BARBIE

The barbecue is the best way to add flavour to chicken without having to do any work. The meat will take on a beautiful chariness, which is only amplified with the use of a marinade.

For Patrick, that marinade is miso, sake and ginger.

“The chicken gets that great bitter sweet character,” he says.

He likes to use chicken thighs and marinate them for 24 hours before barbecuing them for 30 minutes, starting at a low temperature, before finishing them off at a high temp. He then serves the sticky pieces with lime wedges and a spicy mayo made from simply mixing Thai hot sauce Sriracha and Japanese mayonnaise kewpie — both available in the Asian aisle of your supermarket.

Warncken also recommends using the thighs for the barbecue as they are “slightly fatty, plump and super juicy”.

“Simply marinade in some olive oil, crushed garlic, lemon zest, finely chopped fresh parsley and thyme, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for about 4-5 minutes each side on the grill component of your barbecue,” he says.

Chicken karaage. Picture: Damian Shaw

FRY HARD

It might not be the healthiest way to eat chicken, but frying it is certainly one of the most flavourful.

Warncken loves creating Japanese-style karaage chicken at home — “Tender juicy pieces of chicken thigh covered in a crisp coating then fried to perfection”.

“Start by dicing your chicken thigh into roughly 2-3cm pieces,” he says. “Marinate for 10-15 minutes in a mixture of sake (Japanese rice wine) soy sauce, sugar and grated ginger. Drain off the excess liquid and roll your chicken pieces generously in potato starch. Deep fry for about 5-6 minutes or until cooked. Serve with kewpie and lemon.”

As for Patrick, it’s got to be his Asian chicken balls — a recipe he learnt from a Thai chef while working in Broome.

“You blend chicken mince, grated ginger, chopped chilli, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, coriander and one egg white,” he says.

“Then you can use skewers, but I like to use sugar cane sticks and you take your sugar cane, get a ball of the chicken mix and mould it around the stick and then roll it in sesame seeds and deep fry until golden.”

Serve with lime and more of his spicy sriracho mayo.

Miso braised chicken with sesame rice.

ONE POT WONDERS

There’s nothing better than a one-pot wonder when you’re looking for dinner without the fuss.

Patrick embraces his English heritage and gives it an Asian spin for this classic dish of chicken with herbs and garlic, alongside shiitake and spring onion dumplings.

“I like one pot in the middle of the table. It’s a talking point and it’s help yourself and less washing up as well,” he says.

To start, make a green breadcrumb by mixing any soft green herbs you have with garlic and breadcrumbs. Then get a whole chicken and stuff the crumb under the skin. Fill a casserole pot with 1.5L of chicken stock and 30ml of soy sauce.

To make the dumplings, combine breadcrumbs with diced dried shiitake mushrooms, coriander, spring onion, and an egg to bing it together, then roll into golf ball size balls.

Put the chicken in the pot with the dumplings and stock mix and place in a 160C fan-forced oven for 40 minutes with the lid on. Take the lid off, turn the oven up to 180C and cook for a further 20 minutes, throwing in some Asian greens and fresh shiitakes in the last few minutes of cooking to allow them to wilt, then serve.