Simmie's Recipes: Tarragon Chicken Kiev with Truffle Mayo and Caper Berries

Mental Health and Chicken for the Soul

WELL…

We’re back after a rather different Christmas and New Year. Matt, Rob and I are excited for what this year promises to bring us!

I’m going to take this opportunity to talk a little about mental health, given that I think most of us have either had ours exacerbated or developed new symptoms. I’ll also be trying to convince you that a comforting Chicken Kiev recipe will heal all your woes… I mean, it probably won’t but you will enjoy it, I hope!

So today, I nearly sobbed over the rollout of the Oxford vaccine. It took me by complete surprise; it was the first time I had let myself think about the long-term effects of this pandemic on mental health. I was emotional because it was a sign of hope for us, a sign that I might be able to just see my grandparents soon, maybe even hug them. The emotion was more than just elation, though, it was raw; like an eruption of every thought and feeling I'd had in the past year. Perhaps, when you’re living through a crisis, you’re too busy living through it to process the impact of it. That’s what I think has happened to a lot of us.

Now, a disclaimer, I’m not qualified to talk about mental health from a professional standpoint. So I will talk about my feelings and hope that at least a few of you can relate.

Can I say I was relieved when we were locked down in March? I’d been working flat out all year, hadn’t taken even one day of holiday and was told to take my two weeks in one go by my boss, because Covid had already started to affect the business. I went onto furlough time with so much energy. I’d been working so hard with actual work (willingly, with no regrets because I love what I do) and learning so many new things that a lot of my projects had fallen by the wayside. So lockdown was my time to essentially have this big, cathartic release of all the ideas and creativity that I had pent up.

I hadn’t expected that my mental health would suffer. I’m quite introverted and spend a lot of my time at home/only seeing my closest friends anyway so it never occurred to me that nearly a year down the line, I’d be here. It’s not easy to open up about these things, but my familial relationships leave a lot to be desired now. It makes being creative hard, when you’re living in this… atmosphere. The thoughts of not wanting to exist are normal to me, having had them since I was a child, but the intensity of those thoughts and the sheer logic that supports them is so strong now. Fortunately, I have my cat, and as long as she needs me, I’m not going anywhere.

Comfort Food for the Soul

A week or so ago, on a particularly bad mental health day, I just wanted pure comfort. A few cooking pals of mine had been doing their takes on chicken kievs, and this inspired me to make my own. I think we can all safely say that we’ve been disappointed by a (usually ready-made) chicken kiev before. Too few herbs, not enough butter or it all leaks out before you can shove it in your face. Well, hopefully this kiev is different and that the recipe lives up to the photos.

The eating of this resulted in a moment of peace between me and my father; anyone who knows me well knows how close I am to him but this lockdown has even frayed tensions between him and I. Having him eat and appreciate my food for the first time in a long time was special to me. It was bloody delicious, and good food never fails to bring people even just a moment of contentment.

So, ladies and gents, without further ado, here is my recipe for your very own comforting, healing, truly delicious Chicken and Tarragon Kiev.

This is my second recipe on Matthew Jones Ceramics, tell me what you think in the comments. A lot of what I do is by eye and taste, so these recipes do rely on a certain amount of kitchen “common sense”. My fist recipe was Smoked Mackerel with Salad which you can read here.

I hope you guys enjoy making this or any one of the components!

Until next time,

Chef Simmie
@Simmie_V

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