“A Bird in the Hand: Chicken Recipes for Every Day and Every Mood” by Diana Henry
Chicken has become the rather unsung bird of our kitchen. The sort of go-to protein portion of the meal, that while tasty, hasn’t much going on besides a good roast with some salt and pepper. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Throw in some root vegetables or maybe fennel to roast along side and call it a day.
But always in this, the chicken feels more like just another ingredient, and certainly not the star.
Not so with the doted upon birds from Diana Henry. After a couple recipes from “A Bird in the Hand,” it became clear that even the simplest of recipes called for the table cloth. After little prep work and dutifully following her instruction, the home soon smelled of cooking success. I brought each bird to the table feeling I’d provided more than just food for my family, but a true meal.
My daughter exclaimed at dinner: “Mama! Chicken is supposed to be plain!” Not so! Gone are the days of over-cooked dry chicken breasts with no bones or skin, and so little flavor the kids are smothering each bite in BBQ sauce. We’re getting retrained, kiddos. That bird has flown the coop.
While there are a few recipes in “A Bird in the Hand” that may be familiar, this is a book of practicality blended with creativity, even the “familiar” dishes have an inventive twist that works to highlight the bird as it should be; as Henry writes, “Honor that bird.”
Henry has divided the book into sections to help you select a meal to fit “every mood” and interspersed bits on how chicken loves cream/citrus/herbs. The last particularly tasty portion makes use of our scraps — should there be any leftovers.
If there is anything to warn you about this book, other than it’s addictively tasty recipes, is that it is written in a style home cooks may be unaccustomed. There is no “total prep time” or “dinner in under 30 minutes” given at the head of each recipe. Instead, Henry writes in a more traditional cookery style, giving instruction in separate inserts, keeping the recipe specifics as needed. This is the sort of cookbook to read through, and one worth doing so.
Henry encourages intuition and common sense in the kitchen, and that we must know our oven’s proclivities. “Cooking chicken is basically easy and there’s no reason to complicate it. I just wanted to give you as many recipes and new ideas as possible,” Henry writes. She holds our hand through the delicious spices and flavors of her recipes, but lets us do the cooking. When you deliver that dish to the table, you’ll feel you’ve made that bird sing.
Unless you’re vegan or vegetarian or just don’t care for chicken, this cookbook needs a place on your cook-shelf. Henry’s book is refreshing and new. In bringing us her home repertoire, she assures us that “If you have chicken in the fridge, a good meal is never far away.”
Who should buy this: Anyone who eats chicken. Give this as a wedding gift. A gift for yourself. Find a copy and get cooking, you won’t regret this purchase.
Publisher: Octopus Publishing
Price: $29.99
Erin Pride is a home cook who loves cookbooks and writes about them on her blog, Edible Shelf. For more on the specific recipes Erin tested, visit her website, edibleshelf.com. Follow Erin on Twitter and Instagram @edibleshelf.
Chicken with thyme and lemon and smashed garlic potatoes
Potatoes
11/8pounds baby new potatoes
8garlic cloves, peeled but left whole, plus 3 garlic cloves, grated
3tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme
Chicken
1small skin-on chicken, cut into 8 pieces, or a mixture of skin-on, bone-in pieces
¼cup extra virgin olive oil
8sprigs of thyme (and thyme flowers if possible), divided
finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus the juice of 2
Very simple but very pretty, especially if you can get your hands on thyme flowers. The chicken also works well with lavender. The potatoes are fab. I do them in all sorts of versions. You can daub the top of them with crème fraîche (wicked, but good) or add dried chili flakes or herbs (though not to serve with this chicken dish, but with others). It’s a “keeper” recipe.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Boil the potatoes in water with the peeled, whole garlic cloves. When the potatoes are just tender, drain them (discard the garlic), put the potatoes into a baking dish, and press the top of each so it is a little crushed, but stays in a single piece. (I use the end of a rolling pin, but a potato masher is good, too.) Add the grated garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper and roll the potatoes around in all of this to coat. Scatter with the thyme leaves.
Put the chicken pieces into a baking pan that you can serve from; a cast-iron, enamel, or copper dish would be good. The pieces should lie snugly in a single layer. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper, and 6 sprigs of thyme. Leave some sprigs whole, and just use the leaves of others. No need to be exacting about it. Add the zest and juice of one lemon. Add the squeezed-out rinds as well.
Toss everything together with your hands. Remove some of the zest of the other lemon with a vegetable peeler and set it aside. Place the chicken pieces skin-side up and add to the hot oven.
Makes 4 servings.
Bourbon and marmalade-glazed drumsticks
8drumsticks
1/2cup orange marmalade, divided
4teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided
3tablespoons bourbon
2garlic cloves, crushed
2red chiles, halved, seeded, and minced
2oranges (preferably thinskinned), halved and cut into 3/4-inch thick wedges
salt and pepper
This is lovely with a salad that cuts through the sweetness — watercress and shaved fennel is good — with a buttermilk dressing. Brown rice or spelt are perfect alongside.
Make small slits in the drumsticks with a sharp knife. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the marmalade and 1 teaspoon of the mustard. Set aside. In another bowl, mix the remaining marmalade — squash it down with the back of spoon to break it up — with the remaining mustard, the bourbon, garlic, and chiles. Put the chicken into this and roll it around so it gets well coated. Cover and put in the fridge for a few hours (or leave it all day, or overnight if you prefer). Bring it to room temperature before cooking.
When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 410 degrees.
Put the drumsticks — with all the marinade and any juices — into a roasting pan or gratin dish where they can lie in a single layer. Add the orange wedges. Turn the chicken and oranges over so that the oranges get coated in the marinade, too. Season everything with salt and pepper.
Roast for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the drumsticks are cooked through, glossy, and almost caramelized. In the last 10 minutes of the cooking time, brush the top of the drumsticks with the reserved marmalade and mustard.
Transfer the oranges and drumsticks to a serving platter and spoon some of the juices evenly over the top. You can’t eat the orange skin, but the flesh is nice: sweet and tart.
Makes 4 servings.
Chicken pot-roasted in milk, bay and nutmeg
2tablespoons unsalted butter
2tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
14-pound chicken
11/2cups whole milk
10garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
3bay leaves
good grating of nutmeg
finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
I’ve never been keen on the Italian dish of pork cooked in milk, but I was convinced to try this by Faith Durand who runs www.thekitchn.com website. She heard about it from Jamie Oliver and made some adjustments, and I have made my own. Faith thinks it is the best chicken recipe in the world and my children would be inclined to agree with her. You won’t believe me until you try it, but it is a great dish. The chicken stays completely succulent and becomes sweet, imbued with and enriched by the flavorings in the milk. The nutmeggy milk makes it a little like eating roast chicken with bread sauce (but without the hassle of making bread sauce). It is one of the most comforting dishes you could wish for.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven that can hold the chicken. Season the bird, tie the legs together if you want to, and brown it all over.
Use 2 wooden spoons to turn the chicken over, seasoning it as you go. Try to avoid piercing the skin. Pour off the fat left behind in the pan (you don’t need to throw it out because you can keep it to fry potatoes).
Add the milk, garlic, bay leaves, nutmeg, and lemon zest to the pot. Bring to just under a boil, then remove from the heat. Cover and cook in the hot oven for 11/2 hours, removing the lid halfway through cooking. Baste occasionally, spooning the milk up over the bird.
At the end of cooking time the bird will be succulent and golden and the juices will be copious and slightly curdled.
Squash the garlic cloves with the back of a fork so they break down and flavor the juices. Taste to check if you want to add a little more nutmeg.
Serve — I love it with orzo or a rice pilaf — spooning the juices over the chicken and whatever starch you prefer for a side dish. The vegetable you choose depends on the time of year. In winter it’s good with roast carrots, in the summer roast tomatoes and a salad of bitter leaves.
Makes 6 servings.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
