Instructions: Place the all chicken ingredients in a saucepan.

Cover with cold water bring to the boil cover then simmer for about 30 mins or until cooked.

Cover the pan tightly remove from the heat and leave to sit for 45 min.

The chicken will be perfectly cooked moist tender and with a beautifully silky texture.

Remove the chicken from the stock.

Remove the skin and bones and put to one side.

Cut or tear the meat into bite sized pieces.

Return the skin and bones to the stock and simmer for another hour.

Strain through a sieve discarding the solids.

Chill until the fat solidifies on the surface.

Remove and discard it.

You now have a superb stock to use to make soup or for risotto or in another recipe of your choice.

For the sauce heat the oil in a small pan and stir fry the onion for about 10 min until soft.

Add the curry powder and stir fry for 1 min then add the next eight ingredients and simmer for 1520 min or until reduced by half.

Strain into a clean pan add the apricots simmer then puree in a food processor and leave to cool.

Combine the puree mayonnaise and creme fra"che and adjust the seasoning with salt pepper and lemon juice as necessary.

Anange a wedge of lettuce and a portion of chicken on 6 plates or soup dishes and pour over the sauce.

Serve immediately with bread.

Our version of the dish that was created for the Queens coronation lunch and became in more or less delicious guises a fixture at fashionable dinner parties for the next 20years or o. Properly made with good chicken its as good as it ever was. Instead of rice (it was originally served with rice salad) its good with a thick wedge of iceberg lettuce which adds background crunch rather than flavour and warm crusty bread.

Serves 6

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