Starring casserole
In his fine-dining interpretation of a classic chicken-and-mushroom casserole, chef Charlie Lakin pays tribute to the suppliers who helped to earn his Durban restaurant, Meraki, two stars at the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2023
The backstory: “My mum’s chicken-and-mushroom stew was a staple growing up, as we had hundreds of chickens running around. But most were only good to be cooked in a stew pot as they were tough old birds,” says Charlie, who grew up on a smallholding in Yorkshire. “My dad always had loads of mushrooms growing on his muck heap that we would pick during the day when my parents were at work. The stew was built up with whatever was growing in the garden; my favourite was fresh leeks.”
The chicken: Charlie sources his free-range organic chicken from Country Road Chicken’s Carol and Steve Bailey in the Drummond valley. He cooks the chicken poché grille: first brining it, then poaching it in a light chicken stock with loads of herbs from Carol, before searing it in a pan with butter. The wing is brined again and stuffed with a chicken-and-blue oyster mushroom forcemeat, deep-fried and finished in a reduction of mushroom pickling liquor.
The mushrooms: “The blue oyster mushrooms are grown by Tyler Jackson in Kloof just down the road,” says Charlie, who also forages for porcini and Judas ear mushrooms nearby. “The oyster mushrooms are very simply sautéed. When ingredients are good and fresh, there’s no point in messing around with them.”
The sauce: A reduction of Charlie’s house-made chicken stock, heavily flavoured with fresh thyme, brings the dish together, giving it “the richness of my mum’s stew pot”.
The peas: “I love fresh garden peas cooked in chicken stock and butter,” says Charlie, who gets his, freshly picked from Camp Orchards about a kilometre down the road, then delivered straight away. “Petits-pois à la francaise is one of my favourite veg dishes. They’re cooked similarly, usually with onions and lettuce, but I popped the leek into the dish for the same feel.”
The leeks: Sourced from Chisomo Bean in Merrivale, they’re simply charred in a dry pan to add a little bitterness alongside the sweetness of the peas.