Food column

A simple dish may fill a basic necessity, but an elegant presentation can do so much more for culinary satisfaction. Whether dining alone, with a loved one or with a group of friends, the degree of care that goes into the layout goes a long way to making the occasion a memorable one.

Of course, personal taste will help to decide the final setting, but a pretty plate or an unusual dish go a long way to setting the mood. Around town lately there is a trend that is particularly attractive, to set out a dish of cold cuts: ham, salami, cold roast beef and pickles on a wooden platter.

Also eye-catching are decorative tiles, especially when the basic color makes a perfect foil for the food, such as a dark slate tile for a pale chicken dish like the one used for this week's recipe; orange-scented chicken breasts with poblano peppers.

To accompany the chicken and peppers, boil (for 1 per person) potatoes until tender (15 minutes +) with the skin on, in water to cover, with an added 1 bay leaf, 1 tspn olive oil and tspn of salt.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the sauce. In a non-reactive bowl, whisk together 1 tspn white wine vinegar, 1 tspn clear honey, tspn Spanish paprika, 2 Tbsp (30ml, 1 fl oz) Grand Marnier orange liqueur, tspn Dijon mustard, and 1 pinch each of dried thyme, dried oregano and black pepper. Cook over a medium-low heat for 7+ minutes until the alcohol burns off.

Have ready 1 orange peeled and sliced into small segments, set aside.

On a chopping board, place a sheet of cling film (around A4 size), cover with a sprinkling of olive oil before placing a chicken breast on top, add a little more olive oil onto the chicken breast and cover with another cling film sheet.

Now comes the fun part, using a pan or a meat hammer smash the chicken until it becomes a thin layer, try to make it as square and as even as possible.

Remove the top layer of cling film and season the chicken breast with salt and pepper, place a few of the orange pieces all along it, just as you would if making a maki sushi roll, and roll it up - using the cling film to manipulate it into shape. You will end up with a sushi-like chicken roll. Make sure the chicken roll is very tight, in order to keep it stable, by rolling it very hard in the cling film. With a toothpick make a few holes to the cling film in order to let the air out and the sauce in.

Vacuum pack the chicken roll along with the sauce in a cooking grade vacuum bag - do NOT pierce this bag. Ideally, it should be cooked for 40 minutes at 61 degrees Celsius in water in a slow cooker. If you don't have this device, then use the following cooking method.

Melt 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a saut pan over medium-high heat. Once melted, turn the heat down to medium. Add the flattened chicken breasts without the filling. Cook for one minute on each side until golden. Remove the breasts to a plate, and add the sauce and the orange slices to the pan. Heat the sauce before adding the chicken breasts. Put the lid on the pan and set your timer for 10 minutes. Do NOT lift the lid during this time.

When that time has elapsed turn off the heat. Reset your timer for 10 minutes and leave the chicken breasts in the pan - without turning on the heat. Again, do NOT lift the lid.

After the 10 minutes are up, check the breasts to make sure there is no pink in the middle. Arrange the orange slices on top of the chicken breasts and ladle the sauce over. Add the cooked potatoes - mashed well if you like - and a serving of pan - or grill-roasted poblano or shishito peppers, sprinkled with sea salt flakes.

For added colour, sprinkle with a little Spanish sweet paprika.

Serve a Spanish red wine such as a white Albarino from the Rias Baixas DO, a red Carmenere wine from Chile, or one of the sparkling reds from Australia such as the sparkling red from Coonawarra Shiraz. Coonawarra is a premium Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grape-growing area in the South East of South Australia - on the map about half way between Adelaide and Melbourne. The early experimental wines were filled into bottles by hand. The first time I tried a Sparkling Shiraz, it was a 1997 - a great year for Coonawara Shiraz. Today, there are around 60 different sparkling red wines on the market in Australia, some are exported to here, and to Japan - where it's very popular. It's a delicious drop and so suitable for the Hong Kong climate I'm surprised it isn't seen more here.

nb. Poblano and shishito peppers are usually mild, small finger sized members of the Capsicum family, but occasionally, you'll find a hot, spicy one. Beware!

(HK Edition 08/23/2013 page7)