Saturday Supper - Chicken Simla

Crumbs, it's months since I posted a recipe here so here goes. It's a recipe I've had for many years, and almost forgotten about but I made it again the other evening, for the first time for Len. He loved it! From the name you might expect a curry sort of dish - but not so. It has a luscious creamy sauce with a bit of a tang to it but not a hint of curry:

Grin, I think I broke the main rule of photographing food here. The chicken, which is what this is all about after all, is hidden tucked towards the back of the plate, nestled in the watercress, surrounded by tomato quarters and sprinkled with roasted flaked almonds (which of course are optional). But I'd already dished the full meal when I remembered to run for the camera - and someone was hovering nearby sniffing the air appreciatively so no way could I deconstruct the plate of food :)

Chicken Simla:

Served two but I think the sauce is enough for four so you could just increase the chicken portions.

2 chicken joints (I used chicken breasts)
1oz. seasoned flour
2 tablespoons oil
2oz butter
1/2 pint chicken stock
2 tablespoons mild mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce (that's really where the tang comes from)
1/4 pint double cream

Toss chicken in seasoned flour (I just do this in a poly bag), fry until golden in butter and oil.

Arrange in a shallow, ovenproof, dish then pour over the hot stock mixed with the mustard and Worcestershire Sauce.

Cover and bake for 1 hour at Reg. 3, 325 F or 160 C.

Stir in cream and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Garnish with fresh tomatoes and watercress - serve.

Things I do: I dithered over using Dijon mustard but thought it might not be mild enough so nipped out and bought American Style mustard which worked brilliantly.

I forgot to cover the chicken when it was baking in the oven, but it came out golden and not at all dry as there was plenty of liquid around it. If you were to cook four chicken portions then perhaps you should cover the dish.

After adding the cream I popped the dish back in the oven for about 5 minutes to heat the cream through.

We had mashed potato (to soak up the lovely sauce) and asparagus - but rice would go really well. The watercress and tomatoes do add a lovely splash of colour so I'd still add those if I was serving rice.

It's a really easy dish to make but very scrummylicious indeed :)

Enjoy!

Di
x