Category Archives: Chicken

Lazy Sunday Lunch

24 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by in Chicken, Dinner, Lunch

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I know that some kind of roast joint is traditional for Sunday lunch, but for me it’s a slow cooked meltingly tender casserole that fills the house with such fabulous smells, or it’s a simple chicken roasted in the oven.  So today I made both.

I’ll deal with the casserole another day, having picked up a lovely free-range, organic chicken I thought that all it needed was something simple to bring out the best flavour.

Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken

Lemon&Thyme Roast Chicken

  • 1 free range, organic roasting chicken (about 1.75kg)
  • 2 lemons
  • 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme (2 tsp dried)
  • 2 medium onions, sliced (just leave the skins on)
  • handful of smoked lardons (optional)
  • pepper
  • 35g butter, softened

Directions

  1. Preheat the over to 190 C/170 C Fan/Gas 5.
  2. On a clean board take the chicken and gently use your fingers to separate the skin of the chicken from the breast.  If using dried thyme (or strip the leaves from the fresh stalks) mix this with the softened butter.  
  3. Using your fingers carefully spread the herb butter mixture between the skin and the breast.  Alternatively just spread the butter and carefully push the whole thyme sprigs under the skin.
  4. In a roasting tray scatter the onions in the centre to create a trivet base for your chicken to sit on (they will help add flavour to the juices that you can use to make gravy and protect the bottom of the chicken from the heat of the oven)
  5. Cut the lemons into quarters and squeeze 2-3 quarters over the chicken.  Place a further 2-3 quarters into the cavity of the chicken with most of the lardons (add some extra thyme if you want).  Place the chicken on the bed of onion slices and add the remaining lemon and lardons around the chicken (I also added a few more springs of thyme).
  6. Season the chicken with a very generous amount of fresh black pepper (and sea salt if you must – I don’t) and roast in the over for 45 minutes/kilo plus 20-30 minutes (so in this case about 1h 35m). Test the chicken near the end of the time by putting a skewer through the thigh.  The juices that come out should be clear with no trace of pink.
  7. Once cooked, lift the chicken from the tray and set-aside covered in tin foil for about 10 minutes before carving and serving.  The juices in the tray should be strained and the fat skimmed off to make the gravy.

That’s it.  Simple, no fuss and delicious.  Do what I did and serve with a few roast potatoes and your favourite vegetables.  You can leave out the butter if you want, but it helps keep the chicken really moist.
Lemon&Thyme Roast Chicken
It’s also easy to adjust the flavours, fresh tarragon is wonderful instead of the thyme or crush 3-4 cloves of garlic and mix with the butter.  Another fab version is to mix a Cajun spice rub (you can get a ready-made mix) with the butter.  Regardless of which option I make, I always make sure there are left-overs to make a wonderful chicken salad lunch.

I always used to think that roast chicken was something difficult, now its something I do without even thinking about it.

Sweetcorn Risotto

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Chicken, Dinner, Rice, Vegetarian

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Its the end of the festive holidays and I wanted something comforting for dinner, but also something that felt a bit indulgent.
IMG_0044 A few weeks back I had friends over mid-week for dinner and I made sweetcorn risotto and it was really excellent.  This was inspired by a fabulous bistro in Edinburgh called Spoon where I had first tried this dish and I wanted to make it for myself.

Sweetcorn Risotto with Ginger Soy Chicken

for the risotto (serves 6)

IMG_0042

  • 2 x 340g tins of sweetcorn drained and rinsed (use fresh if you can get it about 2 1/2 cups or 4 ears of corn)
  • 2 onions chopped finely (I used red onions)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 2 ltrs chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice (ie risotto rice)
  • 3/4 cup dry white wine (I substituted this with white port)
  • 2/3 cup grated Parmesan

for the chicken

IMG_0041

  • 12 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (ie 2/person)
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
  • 3 tbsp honey (or agave nectar)
  • 1 inch ginger grated or finely chopped

Directions:

IMG_0043

  1. Trim any excess fat from the chicken and place it in a sealable bag with the ginger, soy, olive oil and honey.  After ensuring that all the chicken is well coated, place in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight.
  2. Blitz about half the sweetcorn in a food processor or blender until they are roughly chopped and milky.  Scrape out and remix with the remaining whole kernels.
  3. In a large soup pot (and make sure its a large pot), saute the onion in the olive oil and butter until its softened and translucent.
  4. At the same time in another saucepan have your stock warmed through to just below simmering.
  5. Once the onions are soft, add in the rice and stir gently with a wooden spoon for two minutes.  Next add in the wine (or port or vermouth) and stir until this has been absorbed.
  6. Now add in a ladle full of the heated stock and all the sweetcorn and stir.  Keep this at a gentle simmer until almost all the stock has been absorbed into the rice, then add in another ladle of stock.
  7. Keep repeating the process of adding in a ladle of stock until its absorbed and add another, stirring frequently.  This will take about 25 minutes (setting a timer might be a good idea), or until the rice is al dente.  You may not need to use all the stock and the rice should be firm and no longer crunchy, with a creamy sauce formed around it.
  8. At this point add the Parmesan and if you want a little chopped parsley.
  9. When there is about 10 minutes to go take the chicken from the bag and either griddle, fry or cook under a grill until ready.
  10. Plate up, sprinkle with chopped herbs (coriander is nicer than parsley in my book) and few shavings of Parmesan, serve and eat!

This really is delicious, and in fact don’t bother with the chicken and have a bowl of this on its own for a really nice supper.  In the photos I’d halved the amount of the risotto ingredients and it still made enough for 3 people, which means I have leftovers for tomorrow.

I also didn’t have any white wine in the house so used some white port instead and it worked really well.  For a nice vegetarian dish use vegetable stock and roast some butternut squash with a little oil and thyme in the oven and serve on top of the risotto.

Risotto is a lot of stirring at the hob, but the results are worth it and you won’t believe how good this tastes.

Leftover Chicken Salad for Lunch

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Chicken, Lunch

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I love to make roast chicken (or cheat and pick up a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket) but I always have lots of leftovers.  So as I was needing something to have for lunch at work I decided to make a chicken salad to add to a wrap and sandwiches.  However I wanted something a bit nicer that the usual chicken and sweetcorn, and while chicken veronique is normally a hot dish, the flavours transfer wonderfully to a cold chicken salad.

Chicken Salad Veronique

  • 2 cooked and cooled chicken breasts (I used leftovers from a roast chicken)
  • 1/2 cup (2 large tablespoonfuls) good Mayonnaise
  • 1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (about half a shop bought packet)
  • 1/2 cup seedless green grapes cut in half (about a dozen or so should be enough, but add as many as you like).
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste.

directions:

  1. Cut the chicken into 3/4 inch dice.
  2. Place the chicken, mayonnaise, tarragon and grapes into a bowl and add pepper (and salt if you must) to taste and mix well.

Okay there is nothing too this recipe really, but the flavours are lovely.  If you want a bit of extra crunch you could add some chopped celery (I just can’t stand the stuff).

I also find that mayonnaise on its own can be a bit thick so you could thin it down by using half mayo/half creme fresh or add a drop of cider or tarragon vinegar to the mix.

If you really want to add to the anise flavour you could even add a splash of Ouzo.

Chicken for supper, with a Japanese twist

24 Monday Dec 2012

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Having friends round for a party means lots of buffet food and I’m always looking out for ideas for something different or new.  I noticed in the shops lots of places doing yakitori chicken skewers, sounded interesting but I wasn’t impressed by what you got for the price, so I made my own and very nice they were too.

However I took the sauce and turned it into a very nice supper.

Yakitori Chicken with Coriander Rice

For the sauce

Yakitori Chicken and coriander rice

  • 1/2 sup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup mirin
  • 1/4 cup sake
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • Fresh ginger, chopped (about 1 inch worth)
  • 1 tbsp cornflour (plus a little water)

For the rest

  • Boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2-3/person)
  • 50-60g rice/person
  • handful of chopped coriander
  • 1 tsp tumeric

Directions(for the sauce)

  1. In a small saucepan, combine soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake (I didn’t have any so I used 50/50 sherry/white wine), garlic and ginger.
  2. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar and then cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
  3. Mix the cornflour with a little water.
  4. Stir the cornflour mixture into the soy sauce mix and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
  5. Strain the sauce and refrigerate until required.

I used the sauce for buffet food initially, adding some of it to diced chicken thigh in a seal-able bag and leaving this in the fridge to marinate overnight.  I then threaded onto mini-skewers and baked for about 18 minutes and served as part of the buffet.

For supper I took the whole chicken thigh and covered in a couple of tablespoons of the sauce and left for about 20 minutes (you could leave overnight).

I then griddled the chicken until cooked, brushing a little more sauce on towards the end.

For the rice I just cooked as per the packet, but added the tumeric to the water.  This gives the rice a lovely golden colour, and once drained forked through a bit of chopped coriander leaf.

I served the chicken up on a bed of the rice and drizzled a bit more of the sauce around the plate.  It was really delicious.  The sauce has a sweet, yet savoury tang to it that is really nice.  It would make a fabulous stir-fry sauce (I added a few teaspoons to fresh noodles as a side dish and was lovely too).

It would make a great sauce for barbecues as well.  I can see me making this a lot.

Note:  I know it’s sad I looked this up, but yakitori describes the method of cooking chicken on a skewer, and not the sauce itself (its really a tare sauce) but it will always be yakitori sauce to me 🙂

Nothing wrong with leftovers

26 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Chicken, Lunch, Supper

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I love cooking at the weekend, and especially a Sunday.  It gives you time to indulge a little more, and make things you just don’t have time for after work.  Sunday lunch this week was Roast Chicken, baked potatoes and veg followed by apple pie.  And very nice it was too.

For those of you who find the thought of doing a roast chicken a little daunting, M&S do a rotisserie-style chicken that is really wonderful.  Just follow the instructions and timings on the packaging, it never fails.

Even with two of us there is always lots of chicken left over (and remember you can freeze the carcass to make homemade stock) for the next day.  So what to do with it?  Well a couple of large dollops of mayonnaise, half a can of sweetcorn, a splash cider vinegar and fresh cracked pepper gave me a luscious amount of chicken mayonnaise.  Add it into a couple of toasted onion bagels and lunch is sorted for the next couple of days.

However I had a baked potato left over (always cook too much), so for tonight’s supper I halved the potato and scooped out some of the flesh and mixed this with some of the chicken mayo and packed back into the potato skins.  Top with some grated cheese and into the oven for 20 mins, add a crisp salad and voila supper is served.  Who says left-overs are dull?

Its okay to cheat…

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Beef, Chicken, Dinner

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Okay all cooks cheat, from a jar of sauce to ready made pastry sometimes life is too short.  I include myself in the list of those who cheat. For instance while I enjoy making pastry, I’ll happily buy the pre-rolled stuff for a quick quiche or something similar just to save time.

I also like to try different products that come out just to see if they are any good. So the other day I noticed that Schwartz do some slow cooker mixes and I thought they would be worth a bash. So I bought two, Beef and Tomato Casserole and Chicken Provencal.

I started with the Beef & Tomato.  Its fairly simple, couple of chopped red peppers, chopped onion, beef, a tin of tomatoes and some tomato puree.  Add in the mix and throw it all in the slow cooker.  I have to say I wasn’t impressed at all.  Firstly the mixture was too dry and there wasn’t enough sauce forming, I ended up adding water (initially about a third of the tin the tomatoes were in).  Secondly the flavour was just naff, it just tasted of the dry spices and I’d have been as well just eating the stuff straight out of the packet.  So I improvised, bit of worcester sauce, 4-5 tablespoons of a hot plum chutney (recipe to follow) that I’d made but wasn’t enough for a whole jar went in, as well as a dollop of red onion marmalade (another recipe to follow).    Now I had something that had flavour and depth to it and tasted edible. (there was enough – just – for 4 portions)

Next was the Chicken, its almost the same ingredients as above (but chicken thighs instead of beef obviously) and straight off I added in extra water.  I suppose it would depend how much liquid was in the tinned tomatoes, but I could see it wasn’t enough again.  This time the flavours were much better, nothing startling but I didn’t feel I needed to play about with the mix and I just let it cook.  (Again it just made 4 portions)

Would I buy them again? Definitely not.  Would I recommend them? Nah, just do it yourself.  I can, and do, make better casseroles from scratch without the packet mix but you never know until you try.  In the end I did create a few meals for the freezer that I can have over the next few weeks when I’m short of time so wasn’t a total loss.