Top chefs from Dine Contract Catering were tasked with creating an innovative recipe with a maximum – and frugal – food cost of just £2 per person as part of its first ever ‘Cooked Well’ National Chefs competition.
Alan Richardson, Catering Manager at Allied Bakeries West Bromwich, took home the winning prize for his recipe for Cajun Battered Straw Chicken with Louisiana Coleslaw, Sour Cream and Chive Dip in an Iceberg Lettuce Bowl.
H&C News is pleased to present below is the full recipe for Alan’s winning dish.
Cajun Battered Straw Chicken with Louisiana Coleslaw, Sour Cream and Chive Dip in an Iceberg Lettuce Bowl
Serves 4
Ingredients
Coleslaw:
- 4 iceberg lettuce leaves
- 1/10 red cabbage
- 1 large carrot
- 1 red onion
- 1 red pepper
- 100ml cider vinegar
- 25g sugar
- Salt and pepper
For the batter:
- 200g chicken breast
- 50g plain flour (or cornflour)
- 50g Cajun spices
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 25ml vinegar
- Water
Sour Cream:
- 50ml whipping cream
- 6 chives (finely sliced)
- Juice of 1 lemon
Method
- First make the coleslaw (this is best made the day before). Finely shred cabbage, grate carrot, thinly slice the onion and red pepper and mix together in a bowl.
- Put the cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a thick bottomed saucepan and reduce on the stove. Add the reduced mixture to shredded vegetables and toss together.
- Cut chicken breast into three escallops and then cut into fine julienne so that it will have a straw-like appearance when cooked. Sprinkle a little of the Cajun spices onto the chicken and set aside.
- Cut iceberg lettuce in half and select the best leaves to make a bowl from. Wash and dry them and form into bowls on a plate.
- Mix the flour, spices, baking powder and vinegar together with a little water to form a batter.
- Whip the cream with the lemon juice and chives to make the sour cream.
- Place a quarter of the coleslaw mix into each of the lettuce bowls.
- Coat chicken in the batter and deep fry for 1 minute, ensuring to keep it separate while frying to avoid clumping. Drain chicken with kitchen roll.
- Place chicken on top of coleslaw and garnish with a quenelle of sour cream and a few chives.
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Marcus Wareing, Mark Poynton and Angela Hartnet