Diana Henry: Chicken doesn't have to be bland or boring

Diana Henry, author of A Bird in the Hand, shares four ideas for cooking chicken. "People say, 'It's a bland food,' but I prefer to think of it as an accessible food that will take on lots of flavors," she says. [More from Henry on crudites, healthy food and zakuski.]

Sally Swift: What's with you and chicken?

Diana Henry Photo: Chris Terry

Diana Henry: I've just always loved it. My family loves it. I was brought up to like it and to use every bit of it, the bones as well as the flesh. My grandfather was a farmer of dairy, beef and poultry, so I grew up not regarding chicken as the boring meat. It was something that was celebrated in my family.

SS: You have a funny story about Chicken Maryland, which I've never even heard of. What is it?

DH: I can't believe it. I've come to the states and nobody knows what Chicken Maryland is. It's what we grew up with.

If you went out for supper in the 1970s, which is when I was growing up in Ireland, nearly every menu in a grill room would have Chicken Maryland on the menu. It's a quarter chicken wrapped up in bacon and then roasted. It was served -- this sounds awful, but honestly it was delicious -- with a fried banana and corn cakes.

SS: It sounds like something Elvis Presley would've been serving.

DH: It's delicious. But clearly it did not come from Maryland.

SS: Give me a couple of ideas of new things to do with chicken.

Turkish-Spiced Chicken with Hot Green Relish

Photo: A Bird in the Hand

DH: Probably my favorite and the quickest supper dish in the book is Turkish-Spiced Chicken with Hot Green Relish. Basically you just marinate the chicken thighs in olive oil, cinnamon, cayenne, crushed garlic and a bit of cumin. Stick it in the fridge and leave it for half an hour -- longer if you want to.

While that's happening, you're going to cut up about one-third of a cup of green olives that are pitted, crushed garlic, a red chili and a green chili (take the seeds out), a big handful of mint, an even bigger handful of cilantro, extra virgin olive oil, a little white balsamic vinegar because it gives it a tiny bit of sweetness and lemon juice. Pound those together -- not so you're completely breaking them up, but so you release the flavors from the herbs.

Take your chicken from the marinade, get your griddle really hot and cook the chicken on both sides.

Serve that with yogurt. You have hot chicken and cold yogurt -- hot spiciness against the freshness of yogurt. It is a knockout because it does so many things to your mouth at one time.

Chicken with turmeric, cumin and crushed avocado

DH: You're going to have the whole thighs and you're going to roast them. They should be on the bone and have their skin on.

Then make another marinade. Marinade is brilliant for chicken. People say, "It's a bland food," but I prefer to think of it as an accessible food that will take on lots of flavors. 

Combine turmeric, paprika, ground cumin again (I love that cumin), a little bit of light brown sugar, softened butter and a big tablespoon of English mustard so it's really quite fiery. You basically marinate the chicken in that.

Stick those in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Those will cook for 40 minutes. That's all you need. All you've done is marinate them and stick them in the oven.

Then on the side you have avocado. I love avocado, but I don't always want to make a guacamole-type salsa. I had a different go at it where I would crush it rather than chop it so it still had some structure.

But added to that is a bit of piquancy. I add the juice of one lime and some sherry vinegar. Then I stir in some creme fraiche as well, which is a little bit more sour than heavy cream. Mush it up; it should still have lumps in it. That's on the side.

If I've got time, then I will do that with corn cakes. That combination is just fantastic. It is a good, easy supper.

Brined chicken with anchovies

DH: People think that anchovies are best with lamb, but they're really good with chicken as well.

A Bird in the Hand

Another quick thing that I do is a mixture of thighs and drumsticks. I brine them. I'm very big on marinating and shoving dishes in the oven, but sometimes I do brine things. I make that much effort.

You just brine them on all sides. Put them into a gratin dish or an oven-proof dish. Put shallots in that you've also brined a little as well. Put in garlic, a little bit of dried chili flakes, five anchovies and three sprigs of rosemary.

After you put your chicken in the dish, you've got to heat the anchovies in olive oil until they get to the melting stage. Then you pour that over the chicken. You also put in about a cup of vermouth and some lemon zest. Bring that up to a bubbling point, stick that in the oven, and that'll be ready in 40 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is delicious. They're all strong flavors. There's something punchy in everything.

Chicken with smoked paprika, potato wedges and saffron aioli

DH: I can tell you another dish where I like to go to Spain. Basically it's a chicken cooked with smoked paprika and potato wedges with a gorgeous saffron aioli on the side -- that's a saffron garlic mayo. No matter what the occasion is, people love a big bird on a platter. This is just a nice Spanish treatment. I usually serve the aioli in a mortar that I've made it in. It looks like you've just done it and it's lovely. You have that fantastic color against the other things that you're serving.