HAIRY BIKERS’ cracking new fare

Si King and Dave Myers have long been fans of the humble chicken and egg. They tell YL about the childhood inspirations behind their latest book and TV series

BBC Two's Hairy Bikers, Chicken & Egg has seen Myers and his good mate Si King travel the world in search of the best recipes using, you guessed it, chicken or eggs, and now there's a cookbook to accompany the series. It's a project that's been incubating for 10 years.

“It's always a book that's been on the boil, really," says Myers. “To a cook, they're such useful ingredients. We've done some standalone cookbooks that have been very successful, like Great Curries, Perfect Pies, Meat Feasts, so why not Chicken & Egg?

“With Meat Feasts, we were a bit stuck for puddings, but this does tick all the boxes, from soups to starters, desserts, baking, you've got the lot with chicken and eggs."

Filming the TV show took them to Israel, as King explains: “We went on this archaeological dig in Jerusalem and down these caves where they'd found the first evidence of people eating chicken, you could see knife marks on the thigh bones of these chickens that were around before Christ.

“It was a massively important city for trade, for salt, silks and spices, so lots of people would come on their routes to take this stuff to market and they would have thought, ‘Hang on a minute, these birds aren't just for eggs'.

“Around 70% of Israelis apparently eat chicken once a day," adds Myers. “When Israel was formed, they were struggling to feed people, so everyone was given 100 chicks. They reared them up, then had to give 90 back to the state when they were chickens and they were allowed to keep 10. That way you could keep some for eggs, kill some, and so it would go on.”

Myers and King both grew up eating lots of eggs but in very different ways.

“One of my first ever food memories was sitting on my grandfather's knee at the table and sharing two dippy eggs and soldiers," says King, who just turned 50.

As for the young Myers, “I used to love scrambled eggs," says the 59-year-old. “I had a bright yellow jumper that my mother knitted me and I used to call it my scrambled egg jumper."

While they both have fond childhood memories of chicken Sunday roasts, the meat really came into its own when they turned to healthy eating in 2012, followed by a slew of Hairy Dieters books.

“We used chicken a lot in the diet books," says Myers. “You take the skin off and the whole chicken is between 700 and 900 calories, great if you're on a diet.

So... Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

“The egg," says Myers. “Everyone knows the bird came from the lizard, so I think there came a point when the DNA of the egg changed to be more chicken than lizard."

“It was the chick," counters King. “You can't have an egg without a chicken. In evolutionary terms, the chicken is the closest relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The TRex laid eggs, didn't it? So at some point, it turned into the chicken. The scientists who think about these things go, ‘Nah, it was the chicken'."

Whichever came first, why not get some on the table? Here are two Hairy Biker recipes to crack on with...

POSH CHICKEN FRICASSEE WITH ARTICHOKES

SERVES 4 4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on or off 4 globe artichokes 2 lemons, juiced 50g butter 2tbsp olive oil 25g flour 1 shallot, finely diced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 200g mushrooms, wiped and sliced 200ml dry white wine Zest of 1 lemon Torn basil leaves or chopped parsley or both Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

If you have time, brine the chicken breasts to keep them plump and moist. Meanwhile, tackle your artichokes. This is our special method. Cut off the stalk about 1cm from the globe. Peel off the outer leaves, rubbing on lemon juice as you go to stop the artichoke going black. When you reach the heart, cut off the top about a third of the way up from the base and discard the top two-thirds.

Take a melon baller or a spoon and dig out the choke - the fuzzy hairy centre. With a small knife, carve off the outer skin of the heart, then rub it with lemon juice. Prepare the rest of the artichokes in the same way and cut each one into about six slices.

Bring a shallow pan of water to a simmer and add a good squeeze of lemon juice. Add the artichoke slices and simmer them for about five minutes, then cover the pan and set aside.

Blot the chicken breasts dry on kitchen paper, place them between a couple of pieces of cling film and beat them out briefly. Spread the flour out on a plate, season it, then coat the chicken in the flour.

Heat half the butter and a tablespoon of oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan with a lid. Add the chicken and cook for a minute or so until golden, then turn it over, put the lid on the pan and cook gently for 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken, wrap it all in foil and leave it to rest for 10 minutes. Heat the rest of the butter and oil in the pan and gently cook the shallot for about five minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then add the artichokes and mushrooms and cook until they start to colour. Pour in the wine and a tablespoon of lemon juice and cook until the liquid has reduced by half.

Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir in the grated zest of one lemon and the herbs. Divide the artichokes and mushrooms between four plates, top with a chicken breast and drizzle over the resting juices.

CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE SOUFFLES WITH GRAND MARNIER SAUCE

SERVES 4-6 25g butter, softened, for greasing 1tbsp caster sugar, for dusting 150ml whole milk 100ml double cream 150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces Grated zest of 1 orange 3 large eggs, separated 75g caster sugar 15g cornflour 15g plain flour 10g cocoa

FOR THE GRAND MARNIER SAUCE:

300ml orange juice Juice of 1/2 lemon 100g sugar 2tbsp Grand Marnier

First prepare the ramekins. Rub softened butter over the insides of the ramekins, then use a pastry brush to go over it with upward strokes; this helps the souffles rise. Dust the insides with the sugar until well coated. Leave the ramekins in the freezer until you need them.

Put the milk in a saucepan and warm it almost to boiling point. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. In a separate pan, heat the cream and when it is blood temperature (about 37C), remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Let the chocolate melt completely, then beat until thick and glossy. Stir in the orange zest and set the mixture aside to cool.

Whisk the yolks with 50g of the sugar until creamy. Sieve the cornflour, plain flour and cocoa into a bowl, then sprinkle this mixture over the egg yolks and sugar and beat until smooth. Pour the milk over the egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly, then tip it all back into the saucepan. Stir over a low heat until the mixture has thickened to a custard, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool, whisking regularly to make sure it doesn't develop a skin. Beat in the chocolate and cream mixture.

Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas 5 and put a baking tray in the oven to heat up. Whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage, then start beating in the remaining sugar a teaspoon at a time until the mixture is stiff and glossy.

Add the egg whites to the chocolate mixture a third at a time, folding it in with a metal spoon as carefully as you can so you don't lose too much volume and incorporating it fully before adding the next lot.

Divide the mixture between the ramekins, making sure each is filled to the top, then scrape a palette knife over the top to make it perfectly flat. Run your finger around the rim of each ramekin to create a small groove round the top. This will help the souffles to rise evenly.

Put the ramekins on the preheated baking tray and bake for 16-18 minutes (depending on the size of your ramekins) until well risen with a slight wobble in the middle. You should get a good rise of at least 3-4cm.

For the sauce, put the orange juice, lemon juice and sugar into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved, then turn up the heat a little and simmer for a few minutes until it is syrupy - it will thicken a little more as it cools. Stir in the Grand Marnier, a tablespoon at a time. Serve the souffles immediately with the sauce on the side to pour into the centre.

Posh chicken fricassee with artichokes