Recipe
Poached Chicken with Salsa Verde & Warm White Beans
Chicken poached gently in aromatic stock until just cooked, served at room temperature over warm cannellini beans and blanketed in a sharp, herb-heavy salsa verde. Three components, each simple. Together they're something worth making repeatedly.
Method
Place the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt in a wide, deep saucepan. Cover with cold water — about 1.5 litres. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes to give the stock some depth. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Lower the chicken breasts into the simmering liquid in a single layer — they should be fully submerged. Reduce the heat so the surface is barely moving: steaming, just shivering, not bubbling. Poach for 16–18 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through with no pink remaining at the thickest point. Lift out carefully and set aside to rest. Reserve the poaching liquid.
Make the salsa verde while the chicken poaches. Finely chop the parsley, mint, anchovies and capers together on a board — work the knife through everything until it's a rough, integrated paste rather than separate ingredients. Transfer to a bowl and add the garlic, mustard and lemon juice. Stir in olive oil gradually until the sauce is spoonable and holds together loosely. Season with salt and taste: it should be sharp, herby and properly savoury. The anchovy shouldn't be detectable as fish — it should just add depth.
Warm the white beans: heat the olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and rosemary sprig and cook gently for 2 minutes until the garlic is softened and fragrant — don't let it colour. Tip in the drained cannellini beans with a splash of the warm poaching liquid. Season generously with salt and pepper and stir gently for 3–4 minutes until warmed through and slightly creamy at the edges. Remove the rosemary.
Slice the rested chicken breasts on the diagonal into thick pieces and arrange over the warm beans. Spoon the salsa verde generously over the top — enough that it pools into the beans and coats the chicken rather than sitting as a thin stripe. Serve immediately, with good bread alongside if wanted.
✦ Chef's note
This dish is equally good served at room temperature, which makes it practical for summer eating — the chicken can be poached up to an hour ahead and left to cool in the stock, which keeps it moist. The salsa verde is best made on the day but will keep for 3 days in the fridge in a sealed jar; the colour darkens slightly but the flavour is unaffected. Butter beans or flageolet beans work well in place of cannellini. To make this anchovy-free, the salsa verde still holds together — add a little more lemon and a small extra pinch of salt to compensate for the depth the anchovy would have added.