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Friday, November 4, 2011

Chicken in Milk and Cream - Chicken Trio # 3

Recipe done in March 2011

The name itself was interesting. I saw Jamie Oliver made this before on TV.

 But it was when Anne of Pigpig’s Corner  made this, I was sold by the way she described it. She was more convincing that Jamie himself. LOL. Pop over to her blog and read her 'testimonial'.



I actually made this dish twice.

First time. Didn't have sage but used thyme. Big mistake! The taste wasn't as good as I hoped.
I used a small pan which was just enough to fit the chicken. It didn't give enough surface area for the gravy to evaporate and the so called "melted cheese" was there, but not a lot. And the whole thing is tooooo soupy. I also find it.. hmm.. not as rich as I hoped it will be. The chicken was tender alright, and it is still a decent dish. But I told myself, I am defintely going to do this dish again, with sage and CREAM! I want this to be good, not decent.

2nd Attempt: You see, the types of herbs available in Jusco is unpredictable. There may be sage this week, but none later, you may see tarragon today but not tomorrow. When I finally got some sage, I remade the whole thing and it became very very delicious! It's the sage! The sage gives it a very special aroma that thyme couldn't give it. And cream....... what isn't nice when cream is added? LOL. This is me, the dairy lover.
The gravy was spectacular. We doused it over mash potaoes with egg and it was so good. The curds, as promised by Jamie will form, was very very nice. As if you're eating tofu, eating cream cheese, eating hmm...savoury panacotta. It's just very delicious. The added cream added a wonderful fragrance to the whole dish. It's not a must, but it's does make a huge difference, with and without.

I made this again for Reuben's Full Moon, but.. I forgot to put in garlic. LOL. It was still very delicious. So, skip the garlic if you can't take it, but frankly... the effect won't be too noticable, but off course, if you have it, it will definitely be better. My mom and brothers (and my guests too, but my brothers kept talking about it after the party) were raving about the chicken. My mom said, it still taste absolutely delicious even after 2 days in the fridge. Well, some chicken dishes taste weird after a while, especially the chicken flesh, it will have one sort of smell that shouts "stale". But she said this one was fine.


Drink the gravy like soup, drench your rice or potatoes with it. Spoon it over your mash, ladle it over your pasta. Just eat it anyway and don't waste it. It's the essence of this magical creation of Jamie. Chicken in milk... only he could think of this.


Chicken in Milk and Cream
Recipe modified from : Jamie Oliver
As seen on: Pigpig’s Corner

2kg chicken whole legs (6 pieces)
1 Tbsp salt
Lots of black pepper

2 cups milk
½ cup cream
12 cloves garlic (1.5 bulb)
2 Tbsp lemon zest
3 sprigs of sage (must have)
2 inch cinnamon stick

Cooking oil for pan frying

1. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken legs, and gently rub it. Let it marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Heat a pan/wok on high heat and put in few tablespoons of oil.
3. Lay chicken pieces in skin down and fry chicken until it looks golden. The wok must be hot and the searing must be quick so that you won't lose the precious juices (no need to be cooked through)
4. Remove chicken pieces into a 9X13 baking dish (some chicken parts will be higher than the dish). Do not put in the oil.
5. Combine milk, cream, cinnamon, lemon zest, and sage and pour over chicken. Stick garlic cloves between the chicken pieces. (the liquid may not cover all the chicken, but only partially, and that is fine)
6. Bake in a cold oven 180(fan)/200C for 50mins-1 hour or until the chicken turns golden and the milk looks like golden melted cheese.

I brought all of these over to my inlaws to be enjoyed together


******************************************
added on 16 Nov 2011

Picture from my 1st attempt that wasn't too satisfactory.

Here's how the gravy will look like. Under the curds, this soupy gravy will form. You will see this clear broth when you pull that curd skin off. It shouldn't be too much as in, as if the chicken is bathing in the gravy, but just about half way up only or less. Nor should it be so dry that it taste like cream sauce. This attempt produced too much, the chicken was literally bathing in it. See the whitish thing like soft tofu, those are the curds.


41 comments:

  1. wow after your raves and pig pig's raves I guess I definitely must try this! must try to get my hands on sage first though - I seldom see it around in supermarkets :/

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  2. Wow, that is unusual combo but it looks soooo delish! Would definitely try it out. Thanks!

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  3. It's unusual to mix chicken with dairy but Ang Mo likes it. Personally I think I'll love this! But when you describes tofu with cream cheese, it kind of "kills" it ya, lol! No worries, I will still try it out. 

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  4. Dishes from Jamie Oliver sure to be delicious and more so when you have cooked and posted in here. I shall give it a try once I get hold of the sage being the primary ingredient here.

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  5. oh i love love sage! my sage plant is growing well, so i guess i can snip some off and make this dish! yummerrrsss

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  6. Sure looks good. Must give it a try.

    I saw in pipig's post that she cover with foil when baking it. Do you put foil on yours?

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  7. Janine,
    Oh yes, no sage and it's not as nice


    Sharon,
    Hope you like this


    Bee,
    Haha, I read in forums even angmoh finds this weird to bake the chicken right in milk, unlike making a sauce with milk


    Mel,
    Sure, LOL, not all of Jamie's recipes appeals to me, you can read about my Banana bread/bun post.


    Swee San,
    Oh yes, I did saw that sage, now go and botak it.


    Yaati,
    Trai, tak trai tak tau


    Alannia,
    No, I didn't cover with foil. Jamie didn't.
    You would want the milk to evaporate, if not it will be toooooo watery like my first attempt.

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  8. Delicious looking chicken. Have a nice day.

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  9. Oh my, the way you described it, made me drool....yum yum. Must try it for sure...

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  10. hi, when i first see chicken in milk and cream, i was thinking to give it a miss, but still take a peep and glad that i didnt miss it because the way you described make me drool and want to make one right away.
    Thanks.
    Sem

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  11. the way you described it also makes me want to try this. i bet this is really delicious since your bro and your family love it and still talking abt it..with so many people loving this, i guess this is worth trying!

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  12. This sounds like Chicken gratin without cheese. I love Jamie Oliver's recipes! Crispy outside and tender inside is what one can die for.

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  13. From the way you decribed this dish I also want to make it right away but it got to wait. I can't make this just for me alone. I will wait till Carlos and Diana is back home. Did you pan fried the chicken or deep fried. They look so evenly brown. Looks really good!

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  14. Amelia,
    thanks, my day was nice with lots of salt and pepper, LOL.


    yummylittlecooks,
    Try it, it's very nice


    Sem,
    I also didn't think much when I saw Jamie making it, not until Anne made it that I decided to try it out. I almost skipped this too


    lena,
    it's very delicious, seriously. LOL


    Quay po,
    it feels much lighter than gratin.


    Gert,
    I just seared it to brown, on the wok, which is curved, so maybe they look more even, but still in patches as I can't be searing every surface of the skin. But after baking, the oven gives it a more even colour, and a more golden hue

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  15. Look really yummy, must try this in one of this lazy weekend, hehehe..

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  16. Wendy, this is awesome! I just bought sage from Jusco, hope I can make it this coming weekends :)

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  17. I like to watch Jamie Oliver in action, his recipes are awesome! Yours chicken in milk and cream look so delicious!

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  18. Looks really delicious Wendy!!!Now I feel like having chicken for breakfast ;p

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  19. Oh my! this looks delish! I am sure it is finger lickin gd.

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  20. Hi Wendy, did u use evaporated milk or fresh milk

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  21. Sonia,
    please do :)


    Min,
    Sage can be kept for about 2 weeks, don't keep too long woh


    Ah Tze,
    Yeah, he's got a special way with food, I love him too


    eencyweency,
    This will be too heavy for breakfast, but who cares! Indulge my friend, indulge!


    edith,
    LOL...


    anonymous,
    If it's evaporated milk, it will be stated as evaporated milk.
    Milk is general liquid milk, you can either use fresh milk, UHT recombined Full cream milk or whatever liquid milk. But not low fat please.

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  22. Hi Wendy, I made this for dinner tonight and it was delish! As I was short on time, I put it in for 50mins, the gravy was alittle soupy, next time I'll have to make sure to put it in for an hour. Thanks for sharing!

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  23. May,
    Oh, so happy you enjoyed it.
    It will still be soupy and not thick and creamy,as the cream and milk are all split after reacting with the lemon zest. But not too much as in, can't be finished after dousing onto mash.
    You can see the last picture, there is still some "soup" under the curds.

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  24. May I ask why you used cold oven whereas both Jamie and Pig Pig specified preheated.

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  25. Anonymous,
    Why waste the precious initial heating power?
    It's not a cake or a cookie that is heat sensitive.
    Different ovens preheating time varies (my old oven 20 mins to 200C, my current oven 8 mins), so, it's safer for Jamie to give u the time after preheating to avoid discrepancies. But I on the other hand, don't bother with this.
    Use preheated if you prefer, but I want to save on electric and utilize as much of the heat produced to reduce baking time. I just keep watch on the chicken after 40 minutes to see how golden I want it to be.
    20 minutes of preheating is expensive!

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  26. Thanks for your explanation about "cold oven".
    -Kelly

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  27. Kelly,
    You're welcomed but do not use cold oven on cakes or cookies, unless specified :)

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  28. Hi hi,

    I tried this recipe and loved the milky sauce! There was nothing quite like this :) None of the individual ingredients stood out in the sauce...just something creamy and yummy. My sauce got no curds though. Perhaps my oven took a longer time to heat up and hence my cooking time should be longer... but thanks for sharing :D

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  29. Ling,
    Absolutely! The taste is so harmonious that even the cinnamon is no way felt, and the lemon doesn't seem detectable, everything just tasted good. Simple like that.
    Jamie said it's the lemon zest that will split the milk to form curds. Hmm wonder what went wrong then. Not the heat, not the heat.

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  30. I made this on Monday and we love it, Wendy. The smell and taste is fantastic. It still tastes good up to today.

    I only used 4 chicken thighs but I made full amount of the sauce coz I wanted more sauce to eat with spaghetti.

    Like Ling, mine did not form curds as well. It was watery but it still taste very good. Do you think that's why the sauce was watery or because of my oven?

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  31. Poh Lin,
    There are no separate layers? I mean some like soft tofu some like clear shicken soup?
    The lemon zest will do the curdling... supposedly according to Jamie, nothing to do with heat

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  32. No separate layer. I even put slightly more than the 2tbsp lemon zest.

    Will try again.

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  33. Poh Lin,
    Hmmm... Just put lots of it then ;)
    Wait, what milk did you use?
    Is it Goodday?

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  34. Perhaps I should try adding some lemon juice as I understood that acid makes milk protein curdle...

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  35. Ling,
    That's another type of curdle I'm afraid.
    the lemon juice makes the curds all split up, like mashed tofu unlikes this where it's all spoondable like soft tofu.

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  36. This is so interesting. A science experiment in the kitchen! Thanks for the brainwave :D

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  37. May I ask do I need to increase the amount of milk, cream and lemon if I'm using 2.5- 3kgs of chicken pieces (7-8)?
    lyn

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  38. Lyn,
    Yes, and you have to separate them into different pans. Don't stack them too much.

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  39. Thanks Wendy for your quick response. May I know how much should I increase? Do you think it would be enough to increase the milk by another 1 cup, cream 1/4 cup? lyn

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  40. Lyn,
    Around that, and don't forget to increase the garlic and lemon zest too

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