food, reviews and of course coffee
Having written previously about my liking for Jack Daniels barbecue sauce, I have been experimenting with my own recipe for a barbecue sauce.
I take some balsamic vinegar, oil, honey, cajun spices, tomato puree (or even ketchup – which I have to thank Jamie Oliver for).
This I coat the chicken in and the roast in the oven.
When it’s a little warmer I intend to then finish it off over the hot coals of a barbecue.
This is how I make a quick chicken curry.
In a hot pan add some sunflower oil, ghee would be better, but I never use it enough to justify buying it, so I use sunflower oil.
To the oil I had some cumin, coriander, ginger, tumeric and some chilli.
Cook the spices for a short while before adding diced chicken, chopped onions, red pepper and mushrooms.
Cook on a medium heat until the chicken is cooked.
Add some coconut milk and cook for another five to ten minutes.
Add some freshly chopped coriander and serve with rice or naan bread (or both).
Here is a nice supper dish for these cold and wet March nights.
Roast some chicken thighs (or half a chicken or whatever cut you like) with some pancetta on top to baste and add flavour. I did roast the chicken on a bed of veg including carrot, onions, mushrooms and red pepper.
Roast some vegetables, I roasted sweet potato slices.
Serve with puy lentils, for these I softened in a frying pan, some finely chopped onion with pancetta. When the onion was nicely soft, I added some red wine and beef stock before simmering it down. Beef stock over chicken stock just because of the colour rather than flavour. I then reduced and reduced this.
When I was happy with the sauce I whisked in some butter (with a fork as it happens rather than a whisk) and then added a tin of Epicure Organic Puy Lentils. I needed to add a bit more stock at this point.
This was a Chinese meal with some additional extras.
The chicken was roasted in the oven with mushrooms, onions and spring onions (scallions) with honey and coriander.
I served the chicken with home made egg fried rice, basically take some cooked rice and fry with chinese five spice, spring onions and beaten egg.
I also cooked a selection of mushrooms including shitake and oyster mushrooms.
Had a real nice dinner today , lots of different homemade salads, coleslaw, rice salad, cannelli bean salad and teriyaki chicken wings.
These are very simple to cook, marinade some chicken wings in a teriyaki sauce and roast or grill in the oven for about twenty or thirty minutes.
I served mine with lime and chopped parsley (as I had run out of coriander).
Delicious.
A very simple dish which is probably either best served with rice or gnocchi.
In a large frying pan, fry off some pancetta bacon and onions. Once these are cooked, remove from the pan, turn the heat up and fry off the mushrooms.
Now add a tub of creme frache and some cooked chicken. Add the bacon and mushrooms. Freshly ground black pepper to season.
Serve.
Take some skinless boneless organic chicken thighs, some supermarkets sell them like this, others you will need to skin and bone them. I prefer the thigh meat as it has a lot more flavour than the breast meat (and is cheaper).
Slice into strips.
Coat in flour.
Coat in beaten egg (free range and organic).
I did two different kinds of strips, one with seasoned flour and one with breadcrumbs.
To season my flour and breadcrumbs I usually use a mix of cajun spices.
Shallow fry for a minute or so, until brown.
Drain and put onto kitchen towel on a plate to drain any excess oil. Keep warm.
I served mine with spicy rice.
Quick and easy.
Yesterday I cooked a very nice Sunday lunch for the family.
We have stuffed chicken thighs wrapped in pancetta. I served this with hassleback potatoes, steamed carrots, green beans and brocolli. We also had roasted parsnips, sweet potato and carrots, we also had Yorkshire puddings.
It went down very well and very tasty it was too.
In a frying pan cook off some pancetta bacon, remove from the pan. Cook the chicken, I usually use chicken thigh (bonless and skinless) cut into a size which is about the same as the pasta I am using. Cook the chicken over a relatively high heat. Remove the chicken and then add the onions, cook until softened. Now cook the mushrooms.
Whilst this chicken and mushrooms are cooking cook the pasta. I used fusilli (pasta twirls) and cooked until al dente.
Once the mushrooms are cooked, add back the pancetta and chicken, add some creme frache.
Mix the chicken mixture with the cooked pasta and a good handful of freshly grated parmesan and some freshly ground black pepper.
Serve.
BBC Food has an interesting article on chicken.
Chicken is no longer the expensive luxury it was and as poultry prices have dropped, the welfare of the animals themselves has declined. Here’s how you can source higher-welfare chicken and eggs.
Personally I do enjoy eating chicken, however I will now only buy organic. Compared to other chicken though more expensive the flavour is so much better.