I’VE ALWAYS found it interesting how you can eat larger quantities of certain foods when they are prepared in particular ways. Take fried chicken. One chicken breast is fine for dinner, but when you batter strips of breast and then fry them until golden brown, you could easily polish off two breasts.

Such was the greed in our household one night when had I bought six breasts to feed a bunch of friends on a Sunday night, and one by one the chunks of chicken dropped like flies. Hence, the hubbie, the 12-year-old nipper and I shamefully ended up eating six chicken breasts between us. Granted, the only thing we had with it was a bit of salad, but even still, it was plain old greedy.

But there is something about fried chicken goujons or tenders that brings out the greedy white trash in all of us. We see it a lot when doing a catering job at parties. If there is a request for kids’ food, we usually provide chicken goujons, croque monsieurs and brownie bombs.

What you will find is that the adults (after a few drinks, when the munchies kick in) gently meander over to the kids’ table (on the pretence of seeing what their little darlings are up to) and quietly start scoffing the kids’ grub.

The respective spouse may come over and haul their other half back to the party, but will inevitably return for a quick taste, feigning some interest in what our secret recipe is. By the time we’ve explained the intricacies of marinating in buttermilk and smoked paprika, they’ve managed to wolf down three or four pieces. Then they thank us absent-mindedly and return to the grown ups, wiping the crumbs and ketchup off their lips, while their children tut-tut at their parents’ shameful manners

But I’m not afraid to admit it – I am very partial to a bit of fried chicken. In our restaurant in Brown Thomas in Dublin’s Grafton Street, we mix the crumb with loads of Parmesan to make it suitably posh enough to serve with organic rocket and sautéed spuds. But for bigger parties, I really love the recipe below, and although the combination of dried ingredients ends up smelling like something vaguely illegal one might smoke (Woodstock goujons anyone?), it sure makes the chicken taste good.

I fry the chicken for a bit in sunflower oil and then finish it off in the oven, which means you can do it for a large group, no bother. It works well for drumsticks, thighs or whole breasts, but I prefer to do it using skinless breasts, which I serve up as goujons or chicken tenders.

The accompanying Romesco sauce is a good bit posher than ketchup, but hey, feel free to dunk in ketchup or, even better, Dijon mustard and honey mixed together.

Spiced chicken tenders

Serves four

4-6 skinless breasts, or legs or thighs

100 g white flour

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried rosemary

Good pinch of chilli flakes

2 tsp ground white pepper

1 tbsp sea salt

Loads of black pepper

2 eggs

100 ml milk

250 ml sunflower oil

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees/gas-mark six. If you are making goujons, cut the chicken into strips. Mix all the dry ingredients together and pour into a large plastic bag or small baking tray.

Beat the eggs and milk together and drop the chicken into the egg wash. Then plop it into the flour mixture and toss around so that it gets lightly coated, and then transfer to a plate or baking tray.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan. Try to ensure you wash your boards and knives and hands really well after handling raw chicken and use clean tongs when serving up the cooked chicken. When the oil is hot enough (put a bit of chicken in or the edge of one of the whole pieces – it should start bubbling away in a very enthusiastic fashion), slowly add the chicken to the pan. You may have to do this in batches.

Keep the heat up and when you feel a bit of crust is forming, turn it over so that a light golden crust forms on both sides. This should take a good few minutes.

Don’t overload the pan or the chicken will become soggy. If it starts burning, turn off the heat. Transfer the chicken to a clean baking tray and when it has all been fried, then bake it in the oven for another 15-20 minutes (longer if using legs or thighs), turning the pieces over occasionally until they are dark golden brown.

Serve straight away. You can leave them to cool once fully cooked and then re-heat in a hot oven for five to 10 minutes, but they won’t be as crisp.

Romesco sauce

Makes enough to serve six generously

Delicious with grilled fish or chargrilled vegetables or frittata

2 red peppers

1 head of garlic

2 tomatoes

60 ml olive oil

50 g flaked almonds

Good pinch of smoked, sweet paprika

30 g bread

3 tbsp sherry vinegar

Salt and pepper

Preheat an oven to 220 degrees/gas-mark seven. Cut the red peppers into big chunks and discard the seeds and stems. Slice the tomatoes in half and cut the garlic head in half, horizontally. Place all of these in a roasting tin and drizzle with half the olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until the peppers are just starting to burn.

Remove from the oven and cover with foil and let the steam continue to cook them for another 20 minutes. In a blender, whizz the hunk of bread so that it turns into breadcrumbs and then add the peppers and tomatoes. Scoop out the garlic cloves (which won’t be that soft) and any juices that are in the roasting tin and add them in too.

Add the vinegar and the rest of the olive oil and whizz until it forms a thick puree. Taste and season. If it’s too thick, add more vinegar or oil. This will last for a few days in the fridge.

See also www.itsa.ie