Easy Lemon Chicken

Mmm Lemon Chicken - it's like quintessential country NSW Chinese take away.

Gourmet Inspired Tip: I actually think the preserved lemons work better than fresh lemon with this dish as it gives it a very nice musky flavour. The preserved lemons I had included peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves in the preserves.

Ingredients:

300 g chicken, sliced in the "fingers"
1 cup flour
1 egg beaten
5 wedges of preserved or fresh lemon
1/3 cup lemon juice (or use some of the preserve juice!)
2 cups frying oil

Method:

Dip the chicken pieces in the egg and coat with flour. Sprinkle lemon juice liberally on top.

Heat the oil in fry pan and shallow fry the chicken pieces for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and the chicken is cooked in the middle.

Squeeze the preserved lemon wedges on top and serve with wedges on the side. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Duck Ragu

More duck delight!

I love being able to buy duck at most gourmet shops now and even Coles! I had to get Confit Duck legs from Premium Quality Meats in North Sydney, but I think the salt curing just gave the ragu and the duck more flavour. I heart duck no matter what, so I think any duck would have done.

This is another il barretto inspired dish – yum!

Ingredients:

2 duck legs

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

200 g porcini mushrooms (surprisingly I couldn’t find any, so I used oyster mushrooms instead)

½ cup chicken stock

½ cup red wine

1 onion, diced

1/3 cup cream

400 g fresh paperdelle pasta (enough for 2 people)

Method

Heat olive oil in a deep fry pan and sauté onions until flavours are released. Add duck and quickly brown the sides.

Add canned tomatoes, red wine, chicken stock and mushrooms. Let simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes to reduce the liquid.

Add cream and stir through. Let cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, during which you can prepare the pasta.

Stir through pasta in the sauce, coating well. Serve, garnished with parsley.