Down-home summer treats

Fried chicken thighs with a tangy potato salad on the side – the perfect summer supper, writes DOMINI KEMP

I WAS GOING TO save both of these recipes until July 4th, but I can’t. The minute the sun comes out I want to eat potato salad with corn on the cob and fried chicken, sit outside and slurp lemonade. So that’s what you’re getting this week.

When it comes to fried chicken, I’ve tried out a few different recipes from the likes of Valentine Warner and Simon Hopkinson. Although I try not to make a habit of lecturing people on what ingredients to buy, I would strongly recommend buying a flakey sea salt such as Maldon for this recipe, as the recipe calls for one tablespoon of salt, and if you used a fine sea salt instead of the Maldon, you would feel like you’d drunk the entire Irish sea. If you can’t get Maldon, reduce the salt drastically to one scant teaspoon.

Valentine Warner’s recipe calls for lots of dried herbs, such as rosemary and thyme, along with white pepper, and made the whole flour mix smell a bit illegal. Simon Hopkinson’s recipe is less herby, more savoury and is a lot more emphatic in the amount of egg and flour dunking and bathing the chicken has to do. Although it may seem arduous, the end result was that the chicken was very crisp and remained so, even when re-heated in the oven the next day.

The accompanying garlic cream was a bit OTT in terms of garlic quotient, but was very tasty, even though we ended up spooning a blob onto some baked potatoes as the chicken was tasty enough on its own.

Potato salads are one of those things, like the ubiquitous pasta salad or rice salad, that can be relentlessly dull and an utter waste of calorie allocation.

The key to good potato salads is getting flavour on the spuds while they are still warm. I used to like vinaigrette as opposed to mayonnaise-based ones, but I think this recipe finds the right balance. By pouring seasoned cider or white wine vinegar onto the spuds when they are still quite hot, you immediately guarantee a resounding flavour to them.

The other magic ingredient is some Branston pickle, mixed in with the mayo, that helps give the salad a bit of pickle-sharp magic, without resorting to chopping up gherkins or capers. This salad wasn’t bad after a night in the fridge, but, like most salads, tasted better when mixed at the last minute and eaten immediately.

Spiced chicken with garlic cream

Serves 4-6

8 chicken thighs

100g flour

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp white pepper

1 tbsp Maldon sea salt or 1 tsp regular sea salt

2 eggs, beaten

100g butter

150ml sunflower oil

Preheat an oven to 160 degrees/gas three. Get a wire rack and sit it over a baking tray for your chicken to sit on. Mix the flour with all the dry ingredients. Put the eggs in a shallow bowl and pour the seasoned flour onto a plate. Heat the butter and sunflower oil in a large frying pan until good and hot, but not smoking. The chicken should hiss and sizzle, but not roar as though you’ve dunked chips into a vat of oil. Now, dip the chicken as follows: 1) flour, 2) egg, 3) flour, 4) egg, 5) flour. Sit them on the rack till they are all done and fry in one or two batches for a good 10 minutes, turning them over gently so that they are a gorgeous golden brown colour. When they’re all cooked, drain briefly on kitchen paper, sprinkle with a bit more sea salt and then bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes while you tidy up and remove the shine from your face. Serve on a big platter with paper plates and a bunch of napkins.

Garlic cream

3 heads garlic, peeled

Salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tub crème fraiche (approx 250ml)

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

Simmer the garlic cloves in boiling salted water for 10 minutes until they are tender. Drain, then mash or blend them in a food processor with the olive oil and some salt. When it has cooled, whisk in the crème fraiche and Tabasco sauce. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice if necessary.

Simple potato salad

Serves 4 as a side dish

1kg baby potatoes

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp English mustard powder

1 tsp celery seeds

Black pepper

Salt

3 heaped tbsp mayonnaise

1 head celery, very finely chopped

1 red onion, peeled and very finely chopped

2 heaped tbsp Branston pickle

Bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Chop the potatoes in half or quarter; leave skins on. Cook in a big pot of cold, salted water that you bring to the boil and then simmer until tender. Drain them and put back into the saucepan with a tea towel over it. I usually put it back on the stove, which although turned off, uses the residual heat to steam-dry the spuds.

Mix the vinegar in a cup with the mustard powder, celery seeds, salt and pepper. Pour this over the hot potatoes and give them a gentle stir, then leave them alone to cool and soak up the vinegar. When they are lukewarm, mix the mayo with the remaining ingredients and then pour onto the spuds and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve. dkemp@irishtimes.com

See also itsa.ie

This week . . . “I have been wolfing down flower sprouts from MS, which are a cross between a Brussels sprout and kale. This new vegetable may seem like a horrific prospect to anyone who hates those green things that appear at Christmas, but trim the root, then sauté in some olive oil with slivers of garlic and a splash of water and soy sauce, until just wilted, and they’re delicious”