This is not so much a recipe, more a collection of things that go together, just presented in a slightly less obvious fashion. Iâve always despaired of recipes which call for unnecessarily obscure ingredients and I suppose for many of us wild garlic leaves will fall into that category; the chicken skin will also need to come from a specialist retailer- the butchers(!), but only because of the quantity youâll need.
I have never understood the rationale behind not eating the skin on things and itâs not unique to chicken either it seems. Fish skin often comes back on the plate; nice crispy golden skin, rolled up neatly in a little pile as if to hide it, the same goes for figs and the outsides of soft cheeses too.
Some of the ingredients have obvious substitutes, the leek for asparagus, the quailsâ eggs for any old egg and even the parmesan cheese can be swapped, however the star of the show and the main draw is the chicken crackling.
Ingredients
(Serves 4 as a starter)
The skin of 8 individual chicken breasts (or equivalent from legs etc)
2 small leeks
75g parmesan
12 quailsâ eggs (at room temperature)
Small handful of young wild garlic leaves.
1 x tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 x tablespoon white wine vinegar
50ml olive oil
1 x tablespoon finely chopped tarragon leaves
Preheat the oven to 180â°C.
Boil the quailsâ eggs for 2 mins in boiling salted water, then drain and plunge immediately into cold water. Leave them to chill in the fridge.
Open out each piece of chicken skin and lay it on a piece of greaseproof paper, stretching it completely flat in all directions. Season with salt and pepper. Â Lay another piece of greaseproof paper on top and place in a roasting tin or baking tray, then place another baking tray or roasting tin on top to keep the skin flat.
Roast in the oven for 20 mins, then remove to drain on kitchen paper.
Make the vinaigrette by adding the vinegar to the mustard in a small jar and shake vigorously to combine. Add the oil, tarragon and a pinch of salt and pepper and shake again. Taste for seasoning.
Remove the root end and outer layer of each leek, then slice 1 cm thick up to the green part. Push the centres out of each slice to produce individual rings. Toss together with the vinaigrette in a small bowl.
Peel the quailsâ eggs and halve them. Shave the parmesan into strips.
Arrange the leeks on the serving plates, followed by the quail eggs, then the parmesan, wild garlic leaves and finally break the chicken crackling into shards or crumbs and sprinkle over.