Chicken, barley and bacon Great combination of simple ingredients

THIS recipe is great and reminds me when my mother used to make my sister and I vegetable and barley soup. It’s a great combination – very rustic and simple to do. It’s all about using ingredients that are always available.

ROAST SUPREME OF CHICKEN, BRAISED BARLEY WITH BACON AND FRESH THYME

4 supremes of chicken

120g pearl barley

180g streaky bacon

2 fresh thyme sprigs

1pt chicken jus/chicken stock

1 chopped onion

30g butter salt and pepper

1pt chicken stock Soak the barley in cold water for a couple of hours. Once it has been soaked, drain and rinse it, put it in a pot, then cover with stock and cook slowly. Bring it to the boil, then simmer for about an hour. When cooked, put to one side.

Take the chicken supremes and trim off the excess fat and sinew, then season with salt and pepper. Add a little oil to a hot frying pan and colour the chicken supreme evenly, then putting them skin side down and cook in the oven for 7-8 minutes.

Finely chop the onion and pick the thyme leaves. Cut the bacon into lardons and fry lightly in a pan, trying not to get too much colour on the bacon, then drain well.

Take the onion and sweat lightly in a little butter. Add the barley, bacon and thyme leaves, then the chicken jus and bring to the boil. Season – if you want it slightly spicy you could add chopped chilli or Tabasco.

The barley mix should resemble a ragout, which is a dish where everything is partially cooked and then finished in the sauce (for example, scallops with penne pasta in a ginger sauce: when the penne is cooked and the sauce is ready, you add the penne to the boiling sauce along with the scallops, bringing back to the boil and serve).

When serving the dish, place the barley mix on the bottom of the dish then place the sliced chicken on top and serve with crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce.

l If you didn’t fancy this dish with the barley, you could use haricots blanc (the white bean of our baked beans) or you could make it with puy lentils. Either way, all three dishes would be delicious.

l Using simpler ingredients, you could make it even more rustic, with creamed mashed potatoes, still using the bacon and the thyme leaves in the sauce.

l To cook the chicken, keeping it moist, pan fry the fillets on both sides for 3-4 minutes on each side. Take them off the heat and leave them to rest for 10 minutes, which will finish off the cooking.

Brian Maule at Chardon d’Or Restaurant, 176 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 4RL Telephone 0141 248 3801 email: info@ brianmaule.com website: www.brianmaule.com

PHOTOGRAPH: ALAN DONALDSON