Roast chicken with grand ambition – it’s become the great Australian stand-by.
I love looking at the butcher shops in the markets of Paris or Rome where rumps, saddles and fillets of beef, veal, lamb, venison and pork with crackling are ready to be cut to order as customers decide on the night’s dinner. There are all manner of birds, too – chickens, guineafowls and sometimes duck.
The locals also have the choice of selecting their poultry from the wonderful rotisseries outside the shops. Quite often, you will see potatoes in the bottom with the cooking juices from whatever roast it is dripping down, adding the most delicious flavour.
Here, we are great fans of the pre-roasted chook. When friends drop by unexpectedly or the family needs feeding in next to no time, it’s one of the most trusted quick fixes because it’s easy to turn into a simple meal or snack.
You can shred it off the bone and mix it with some mayonnaise and sliced tomato to make a sandwich filling, or stir-fry quickly with some Asian vegetables to serve with rice: the skin from a roasted chicken yields a texture and taste in a stir-fry different from raw chicken. This chicken salad with ranch dressing is delicious and incredibly simple. I like to use a free-range or organic chicken.
Chicken salad with my ranch dressing
This is very easy and quick to make. Roast a chook yourself – or if you’re feeling really lazy, just buy one – and bingo, a yum salad in a flash. Classic ranch dressing is usually made with dried herbs; I prefer fresh ones. You can make and use this dressing immediately, but it does improve with a day in the fridge. This salad is great for lunch or perfect shared in the middle of the picnic rug. Serves 4-6.
Ingredients
1.6kg (3lb 8oz) chicken, roasted
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced into
5mm (¼ inch) thick rounds
1 avocado, stone removed & flesh sliced
1 cos lettuce, washed & finely shredded
1 radicchio, leaves washed & finely shredded
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
Ranch dressing
½ teaspoon onion salt
½ bunch chives, about 15g (½oz), chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 teaspoon chopped oregano
2 garlic cloves, crushed
125ml (4fl oz/½ cup) buttermilk
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
125g (4½oz/½ cup) good-quality mayonnaise
Method
To make the dressing, place all the ingredients except the mayonnaise in a blender and puree, then whisk the puree into the mayonnaise. Check the seasoning.
Remove the flesh from the chicken and cut into slices. Remove skin if you wish; however, I think that spoils the flavour of the dish. Place tomato slices on large serving plates, place some avocado slices on top of the tomato, add shredded lettuce and radicchio leaves dressed with a little oil and make a mound in the middle of each plate. Place some chicken on the lettuce, drizzle generously with the dressing and give a good grind of fresh pepper.
Recipe from Good Food by Neil Perry, photography by Earl Carter
Sydney chef and restaurateur Neil Perry designs Qantas First and Business menus. For recipes and cooking tips visit: Website