chicken 'buffet style' dish needed - any ideas?

[oxocube]

I'm going to a party on Saturday night where everyone brings a dish to share and I have been asked to bring a main course, chicken based, can be hot or cold but think hot preferred by hostess. Anyone have any yummy ideas? C.D., you're usually good at this kind of thing

I would buy something from M&S, pour it into your own dish, heat it up and pretend it's homemade

There is never anything left of the following salade tiede thing (which derives from Nigella, so acknowledgements, but has been developed) in our house. Take all the ingredients separately and assemble in a big dish there.

• cos lettuce, torn into bits
• lots of freshly grated parmesan
• few drops of Lea & Perrins
• loads of potatoes, chopped into centimetre cubes, shaken up with olive oil, sea salt and crushed garlic, roasted at 190ish until golden & getting crispy (you can reheat before assembling, but fine if you don't)
• chicken breasts, marinated in half olive oil half lemon juice, then baked (separately from potatoes) till quite brown; cut up into strips. These should still be hot when assembling. Use the juices from baking pan as dressing for the salad.

Tip: use the potatoes baking dish (uncleaned) as the serving dish - once steeped in olive oil lemon juice and parmesan the baked on bits are the best of all.

delia on line has chicken basque

Vict17, I would love to but nowhere near a M & S unfortunately

You could be really really adventurous and make chicken mole.

Stir fry, ginger and garlic in pan with chopped onions. Add one finely chopped hot chilli (more if you want it hotter). Then add chopped chicken breast/thighs (a mixture works well). Add some chicken stock (barely covering) Cook for 20 mins or so. Then add sliced green and red peppers - cook for 10 mins more. Add about 1/2 block of 70% cocoa dark chocolate nad then cook until stock has reduced to a syrupy consistency. Chuck in a good couple of handfuls of chopped coriander and then squeeze in the juice of a lime. Cook for 1 min then serve.

It keeps well and you will be able to reheat it at your friends house.
I like to serve it with some fresh salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

I find that this dish only works if it is quite fiery - this is what balances out the sweetness of the chocolate.

OOoo I've never heard of that one soapbox? It sound lovely

It's Mexican. I've had it in Mexican restaurants and it is lovely. Never made it myself though, so thanks for the recipe.

I'd heard that chilli and choccie go well together but only ever put a few chunks in ordinary chilli con carne.

It sounds lovely, Soapbox (esp as lots of the people at the party are quite foody and the hostess is a chef!) but I was asked not to do chilli as someone was already bringing a chilli beef dish . I guess a curry dish of some sort is the obvious choice, which is why I wanted to avoid it. Do you think something simple like a homemade chicken, leek and tarragon pie would be too naff? Would it be too fiddly to slice/serve etc.? I live a few hundred metres down the road from said party, so at least whatever I make will still be hot!

Could you just buy some hot chicken from the supermarket on your way there?

Hot: Morrocan Chicken Casserole (with cous cous)
Cold: Coranation Chicken on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce...

yum yum

(Let me know if you want recipes)

Lou, ehmmmm? No Would never be able to show my face at school again!

Mo2, whats your Coronation chicken recipe (in case I end up doing cold)?

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Well if you can't do mole, I do have another nice and easy recipie.

It is chicken in boursin sauce.

You fry a garlic clove and finely diced onion until soft (don't let it burn). Add some finely shredded chicken breast and some carrot batons. Pour in one glass of white wine and 2 glasses chicken stock and poach until the chicken and carrots are tender.

Take the chicken and carrots out and keep to one side. Boil the remaining liquid rapidly until it has reduced by about 1/2. Stir in a whole garlic and herb boursin and whisk until melted into the sauce. Simmer gently until sauce is the consistency of double cream then pop the chicken and carrots back into the pan. Simmer for 2 more mins until chicken is piping hot again and then serve.

Lovely with wild rice and asparagus spears.

This is actually much easier to do than it sounds!

Should have said - recipie is for 2 chicken breasts - you will need to scale the whole recipie up if you are cooking for more.

oooh yes i have absolute fave and soooo easy chicken dish

If she wants it hot that is. Marinade some cubed chicken breasts and tiny button mushrooms (or halved larger ones) in lots of hot paprika (you can buy normal and hot, hot is not v. hot but much nicer) and fresly squeezed lemon juice, preferably overnight. I usually use a couple of tablespoons of paprika and a whole lemon's worth of juice to 4 chicken breasts

Then cook it up and take to the party. Heat and add some double cream (don't boil or may curdle) just before serving. Is good with rice or new pots and salad/green beans etc. Haven't cooked it for ages but it always gets lots of nice comments as is so flavoursome. Garnish with sprigs of basil, looks pretty.

ps do reduce the sauce a bit as you get a better flavour, if necessary take the chicken out once cooked and then boil sauce for a bit until it's not really watery.

Oxocube - think this was the one I did last time (off BBC website):

Coronation Chicken
Ingredients
Cooking the chicken
1 chicken, about 2 kg (4 lb) when trussed
1 onion sliced
2-3 carrots, sliced
small sprig of parsley
small sprig of tarragon
salt and pepper

Salad
300-375g (10-12 oz) canned apricots in syrup
2 tablespoons apricot syrup from can
225 ml (7½ fl oz) Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons curry paste, or to taste
4 tablespoons single cream
85g (3 oz) blanched flaked almonds
salad ingredients

Method
Place the chicken in a large saucepan with the other ingredients for cooking. Cover with water and simmer gently until just tender. When cold, remove the skin, take the meat off the bones and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Drain the canned apricots, save 2 tablespoons of the syrup (the rest can be used in a fruit salad). Cut the apricots into thin slices. Mix the mayonnaise with the curry paste, cream and apricot syrup. Add the chicken, sliced apricots and half the nuts.

Pile neatly on to a dish and top with the remaining nuts. Serve in a border of finely shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cucumber.

Reproduced with the kind permission of Marguerite Patten from The Coronation Cookbook, Hamlyn; ISBN: 0600606813

Oxocube, not saying you have to do the chicken in mole sauce, but I would think that it's different enough from beef chilli that you could make it.

Mo2, could you please post the Moroccan Chicken recipe?