The Ivy Now by Fernando Peire
February 4, 2018 by Jenny
When I first held The Ivy Now in my hands, I knew I was in for a
treat. From its elegant crimson cloak to the satin green paper
edges, the book exudes class.
As I turned the history soaked pages filled with modern recipes, I felt as if I were at The Ivy, as it was then and as it is now. The celebrity haunt serves Modern British food to the London pre-theatre crowd and has been doing so for over 100 years. Director Fernando Peire has created a stunning tribute to the art deco adorned restaurant by sharing 100 recipes nestled within 100 years of stories.
The Ivy Now will transport you with its tales, inspire you with its dishes and have you longing to visit the iconic spot. Slow-roasted pork belly with bacon, marjoram, peal onions and peas and Broad bean, mint and goat’s cheese tortellini are a few examples of the stars that take the stage in the 9 Acts (chapters) here. From the artistic design, photographs, to the stories and recipes, I adore everything about this book. I am quick to fall for restaurant cookbooks but when they are done as elegantly as this tribute is – I had no hope to resist its charms.
Quadrille Publishing is sharing the first recipe in the book, the Bang bang chicken (a favorite of mine), with our members today as well as providing three copies of this stunner in our contest below open to members in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Go. Get. This. Book. Now.
Bang bang chicken
Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the blue
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This originally came to The Ivy after Chris Corbin (the owner at the time) ate it in a restaurant in Chinatown. He was so taken with it, he came back and asked his head chef, Mark Hix, to develop it for the restaurant. It quickly became a firm fixture on the menu, so much so that when Gary tried to take it off briefly, the outcry reached the national press! Need we say more?
Serves 6
Chicken
350 ml (1 1/2 cups) chicken stock (broth)
10 lime leaves
30 g (1 oz) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
2 sticks of lemongrass, bashed
100 ml (7 Tbsp) coconut cream
3 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 red chilli, halved
4 skinless, boneless, free-range, organic chicken breasts
Peanut sauce
100 g (scant 1/2 cup) good-quality smooth peanut butter (we use
Skippy)
1 Tbsp hot chilli sauce (look for a good-quality brand such as
Linghams)
2 Tbsp sunflower oil
2 Tbsp sesame oil
finely grated zest of 1/4 lime
30 g (1/4 cup) unsalted roasted peanuts, lightly crushed
Salad
2 large carrots, finely shredded
50 g (1 3/4 oz) mooli (daikon), finely shredded
50 g (1 3/4 oz) mangetout (snow peas), finely shredded
1 bunch of spring onions (scallions), finely shredded
50 g (scant 1 cup) beansprouts
juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
For the chicken, in a large saucepan, bring the chicken stock (broth) to the boil with the lime leaves, ginger slices, lemongrass, coconut cream, soy sauce and red chilli. Add the chicken breasts to the boiling stock, cover with a cartouche (disc of baking parchment) and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken becomes firm and is no longer pink inside. Remove from the heat and leave the chicken to cool completely in the poaching liquor.
For the peanut sauce, soften the peanut butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or for 20 seconds in the microwave. Whisk in the chilli sauce, followed by the sunflower and sesame oils, pouring in a thin stream, and whisking constantly. Once all the oil has been added, whisk in the lime zest and crushed roasted peanuts. Keep this at room temperature until you are ready to use it.
For the salad, put the shredded carrot, mooli (daikon), mangetout (snow peas), spring onions (scallions) and beansprouts in a bowl, add the lime juice and olive oil and mix together. Leave to stand for 10 minutes to soften the vegetables a little. Meanwhile, shred the now-cool chicken breasts. (The leftover poaching liquor from the chicken makes a wonderful base for a fragrant chicken soup, so do save it.)
When ready to serve, divide the salad between 6 plates and top with the shredded chicken. Spoon the peanut sauce over the chicken and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Recipe excerpted with permission from The Ivy Now by Fernando Peire, published by Quadrille September 2017, RRP $40.00 hardcover.
The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on March 18th, 2018.
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