Ingredients

Truffle Chicken

• 1 free range chicken
• 1 truffle, thinly sliced or buy a jar of sliced truffles
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 a garlic, sliced in half
• 1 large flat mushroom
• sprig of thyme
• sprig of rosemary
• maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Cook and Sauce

• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 leek, washed and sliced in half
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 500ml chicken stock
• 200ml, dry white wine

To Serve

• Sauteed Spinach (See recipe)

Method

1. Truffle Chicken: Rinse the chicken cavity and dry thoroughly with kitchen paper. Loosen the skin of the chicken breast and carefully run your hands in between the skin and breast. Toss the truffle slices in a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Distribute the crushed garlic and truffle slices under the skin of the breast. Place the mushroom, half garlic, thyme and rosemary in the cavity. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook (this can be done up to a day in advance).
2. To Cook: Pour the stock, wine and all the vegetables in the base of a large steamer or in a large casserole pan with a rack or trivet to place the chicken on. Bring the liquid to the boil and place the chicken in the top half of a steamer or on a rack or trivet above the liquid, place a lid over the chicken. Leave the chicken to cook over a moderate heat for around 1 hour (you may need to cook it for a little longer if you have a traditional free range chicken, as their meat is much firmer than mass produced ones). The juices from the chicken should run clear when cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm until ready to serve.
3. Sauce: Strain the cooking stock and return to the pan. Cook the stock over a high heat to reduce down, so that their is very little liquid left and you have a sauce that will coat the back of a spoon.
4. To Serve: Pour the sauce over one half of each plate. Remove the breast from the chicken with a sharp knife. Place the breast on the sauce and serve with your choice of accompaniments.

• Reserve the rest of the chicken for another dish eg. salad, vietnamese spring rolls, Thai noodle salad, satay salad, quesadilla, pasta etc)