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CHICKEN

How to make a Swedish chicken and strawberry salad

Ate too much during Midsummer? This weekend is the perfect occasion to cook a light Swedish recipe. Food writer John Duxbury's recipe for chicken salad with strawberry is a surprising taste sensation.

How to make a Swedish chicken and strawberry salad
Chicken and strawberry: a better combination than it may seem. Photo: SwedishFood.com

Summary

Serves: 2 to 4

Level: very easy

Preparation: 15 minutes (including 10 minutes of cooking)

Tips

If you don't have any white balsamic vinegar you could use another vinegar such as ordinary balsamic, raspberry, cider or äppelvinäger med lingon (available from IKEA).

You can use any salad leaves. I like a mixture of rocket, spinach and watercress.

You can use hot chicken if you prefer.

You can make more salad dressing as it will keep it in a jar in the fridge for a week or two.

Ingredients

100g (4 oz) streaky bacon, cut into 1cm long pieces

100g (4 oz) salad leaves

1 tsp white balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp salad oil such as rapeseed oil or olive oil

1 tsp strawberry cordial (optional)

100g (4 oz) chicken breast, cooked roughly diced

100g (4 oz) strawberries, hulled and halved

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Put a frying pan on a medium heat and when hot fry the bacon pieces for 4 or 5 minutes, stirring from time to time until evenly browned and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon on to some kitchen paper and pat dry.

2. While the bacon is frying, whisk the vinegar, oil and strawberry cordial (syrup) together and then pour over the salad leaves. Toss the salad until the leaves are evenly coated.

3. Add two thirds of the chicken, bacon pieces and strawberries to the salad and toss thoroughly.

4. Garnish with the remaining chicken, bacon and strawberries.

5. Grind some black pepper over the salad and serve.

This recipe was originally published on food writer John Duxbury's Swedish Food website

FEATURE

Italian recipe of the week: The perfect spaghetti carbonara

It has just three ingredients, but a lot of bite: artisan pasta maker Silvana Lanzetta shares her recipe for the perfect carbonara sauce.

Italian recipe of the week: The perfect spaghetti carbonara
An authentic carbonara sauce has only three ingredients. Photo: Flickr/Wine Dharma

Pasta alla carbonara (literally translated as 'coal workers’ pasta') is one of the most well-known and loved Italian delicacies: the creaminess of the eggs contrasting with the crispy guanciale makes it a pleasure to eat.

The origins of carbonara sauce are still uncertain. However, the recipe doesn’t appear until 1944, which prompts some speculations on how this delicious recipe came to be.

READ ALSO: The original recipe for authentic bolognese sauce

The most widely recognized theory is that this beloved Italian dish is an American adaptation of the traditional cacio e ova: when the Allied troops were stationed in Italy toward the end of World War Two, they got fond of pasta cacio e pepe, but to give them a “back home” flavour, they added smoked bacon to the recipe.

Roman people enthusiastically adopted the new dish, and quickly added it to their cooking.

They swapped the bacon for guanciale (the fat from a pig’s cheek) as they already had pasta recipes using guanciale and Pecorino cheese, the other two being pasta alla gricia and bucatini all’amatriciana.

Tips

Don't use Parmesan cheese for this recipe. However, if you're having difficulties finding guanciale, pancetta can be used instead.

Never add cream to the recipe: the creaminess is given by the sheer amount of grated Pecorino – so don't skimp on it! 

READ ALSO: Silvana's ten golden rules for cooking pasta like the Italians

Ingredients

  • 360 g spaghetti
  • 120 g guanciale
  • 4 eggs yolks
  • 1 whole egg
  • 150 g Pecorino Romano cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

Step 1:
In a non-stick pan, fry the guanciale in its own fat until slightly crispy, taking care not to brown it too much.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and the whole egg with salt and pepper. Stir in the grated cheese until a thick cream is obtained. Add the cooked guanciale and reserve.

Step 3:
Cook the spaghetti al dente. Reserve about 100 ml of the cooking water. Drain the pasta well, and immediately pour the pasta into the bowl with the eggs. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg.

Step 4:
Add a little bit of the reserved cooking water, and mix well so as to coat all the pasta. If the sauce is still too dense, add some more cooking water. If too runny, stir in more cheese.

Step 5:
If necessary, season with more salt and pepper. Serve immediately sprinkled with extra grated Pecorino cheese.


Silvana Lanzetta. Photo: Private

Silvana Lanzetta was born into a family of pasta makers from Naples and spent 17 years as a part-time apprentice in her grandmother’s pasta factory. She specializes in making pasta entirely by hand and runs regular classes and workshops in London.

Find out more at her website, Pastartist.com, including this recipe and others.

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