Flowers have been popular in culinary dishes and drinks for many centuries. Many people do not realise it but in medieval times, flowers were used widely in cooking. This elderflower chicken recipe comes from that era in fact and uses chicken breasts, elderflower clusters, ground almonds and egg yolks as the main ingredients. Food in 11-12th century Europe, especially England and France, often called for the use of flowers in hot dishes as well as salads.
Today the elderflower is still popular in the kitchen. In food stores you can readily see cordial made with it and elderflower tea is widely available, being recognised by many people for its health giving properties. Elderflower is used extensively in recipes – even in the making of jams and vinegar! Now there’s something I might try myself in the future 🙂
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 people | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 40 minutes | 20 minutes |
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A delicious and strikingly different chicken recipe as it would have been prepared in the medieval kitchen
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- 6 or 7 elderflower clusters See recipes notes below
- 4oz ground almonds
- 2lb chicken breasts
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Poach the chicken in salted water for 30-40 minutes until cooked and tender.
- Strain the broth from the chicken breasts and place 2 cups of it to one side. Remove the skin from the chicken and keep the meat warm whilst making the sauce.
- Take the 2 cups of the strained broth and make some almond milk by steeping the ground almonds in it. ie. pour the broth onto the ground almonds in a separate, heatproof bowl and leave the mixture for about 20 minutes.
- Strain the ground almonds from the mixture, leaving just the creamy almond milk.
- Grind together the salt with the elderflowers and stir into the strained almond milk.
- Take the skinned chicken breasts and, if you prefer, break the chicken meat up into smaller chunks. Then cover with the hot sauce and serve.
IMPORTANT: When preparing the elderflowers, carefully strip the flowers from their stems. It is important to use only the flowers.
Elderflower chicken by Shelagh Caudle
