Image courtesy of Aldeburgh Food and Drink
It’s the annual Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival this weekend, where Suffolk producers gather to showcase what they grow, rear and make. I say Suffolk, but we let a few other East Anglians in too, if they ask nicely. I’m biased but I think it’s the best food festival in the country. For sheer quality it’s unbeatable.
Friends will know I can talk for Britain, let alone Suffolk, and for the third year running I’ll be acting as one of the comperes as some of the country’s top cooks take to the stage to demonstrate their skills. I get to meet my food heroes, taste their recipes and occasionally chop their onions (only if they’re desperate).
This year the lovely venue of Snape Maltings plays host to a wide range of chefs (this list may be subject to last-minute changes) including Dan Doherty of Duck and Waffle, the restaurant at the top of the Heron Tower in the City of London. Dan’s signature dishes include a foie gras crème brulee and a spicy ox cheek doughnut.
The food in his new book though is rather more accessible to a home cook. Toast Hash Roast Mash, published by Mitchell Beazley, contains the sort of dishes Dan says he likes to cook for friends and family.
So I thought I’d try out a recipe: a chicken and sweet potato hash with harissa and feta, just the sort of thing you might want to cook after a day wandering the stalls and watching the demos at the Maltings. Marinate the chicken the day before if you can.
Chicken, Harissa, Feta and Sweet Potato
Picture copyright Anders Schonnemann
Ingredients:
2 chicken legs
3 tablespoons harissa
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
1 large sweet potato
Olive oil
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Small can (about 200g/7oz) of sweetcorn, drained
25g (1oz) butter
2 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
50g (1¾oz) feta cheese
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180C fan/200C conventional oven/400F/gas mark 6.
Cut the chicken legs through the middle, separating the thighs and drumsticks. Put them into a bowl, then add 2 tablespoons of the harissa and massage it into the flesh. Season with salt and pepper. Put the chicken into a roasting tray and roast for 45 minutes.
Pierce the sweet potato and wrap it in foil. Put it into the oven alongside the chicken and bake for 45 minutes. When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave it to rest on a wire rack. Remove the potato and set it aside to cool.
Heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the spring onions and cook for 3–5 minutes until soft, without letting them colour. Add the sweetcorn and the final tablespoon of harissa and cook for a further 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
When the potato is cool enough to handle, peel away the skin and cut into roughly 2½cm (1 inch) pieces. Flake the chicken, including the skin, into similar sized pieces, then add the potato and chicken to the frying pan with the spring onion and sweetcorn. Give a good stir and allow to sauté together for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in another frying pan and fry the eggs.
When the hash is ready, divide it between two plates, crumble over the feta cheese and finish with a grating of lemon zest. Top each plate with an egg, season with salt and pepper, then serve.
Don’t know Dan Doherty. I’ll look him out. Have a fantastic weekend!
Thanks, Margaret!
Will definitely give this one a try. Hope you had a good weekend.
It was a really good festival this year, thanks. Seems to get better every year. Lovely to meet some of my food heroes, even if I did call Angela Hartnett Anna halfway through her demo. :O I may never be asked back.
This sounds really good, Linda. Over the weekend, I braised goat in harissa and planned to use the leftover harissa with chicken. In fact, earlier this morning I bought some chicken for tomorrow night’s dinner. Never would have thought to prepare a hash — and with sweet potato, no less.If I’ve the time to make another grocery run tomorrow, this will be my dinner tomorrow night. If not, I’ll surely be preparing it in the near future. Thanks, Linda, for sharing another great recipe.
It’s an interesting combination. My husband was sceptical (‘you’re putting sweetcorn in there??’) but I liked the finished dish. But then I love sweet potatoes and he doesn’t. I really like the sound of your goat with harissa. I have a leg of goat lurking in the freezer, I may have to pinch that idea. Thanks, John. xx