Jamie Oliver makes a cracking BBQ chicken.
Chicken with Lentils
This is my simple and quick way of cooking a wonderful French peasant style dish of chicken, pork, sausage and lentils.
Place some chicken thighs and drumsticks in a roasting pan, add some chunks of pork belly. You could use a jointed chicken if you wanted. Drizzle with olive oil and place in a hot oven and roast for about 25-30 minutes.
Cook some large pork sausages in the oven, as these take less time, put them in a little later.
In a large pan, soften some pancetta, diced onions and peppers. Once soft, add a knob of butter and some flour, stir well. Now add herbs, wine and stock. Cook for about ten minutes.
In a hot frying pan, cook some chopped mushrooms.
Prepare the dish.
Take the cooked liquid, add the roast chicken and pork. Slice the sauages and add them and the mushrooms to the pan. I used tinned Puy Lentils, but you could use cooked lentils or a tin of another kind. Mix well and heat through.
Serve with crusty bread.
Chicken Olives
Cooked and had some chicken olives from Waitrose. These are boneless chicken thighs stuffed with a pork, apple, walnut and sultana stuffing.
Already prepared, all you need to do is cook them in the oven for about thirty minutes.
They were quite nice, but think I prefer the bacon-wrapped chicken legs stuffed with pork and pistachio that I have made before.
Coriander, Ginger and Mango Chicken
I saw recently at a supermarket a Shwartz Spice Blend in a small metal container (not the usual Schwarts glass jars) a Coriander, Ginger and Mango Spice Blend. I thought that looks interesting, so I bought it.
Taking some fresh chicken breast, I diced it and then in a bowl added some sunflower oil (a more neutral flavour than olive oil) and mixed in some of the spice blend with the chicken.
I then put the chicken on skewers and grilled them.
Very nice.
Four Bird Roast
Well the Four Bird Roast was a great success.
Three and half hours in the oven and resting for forty minutes did the trick. Beautifully moist and very tasty.
Not sure if I would get it again, there was too much turkey in comparison to the other meats stuffed in there, but still very nice to have a mix of meats. Stuffings were nice as well.
Christmas is coming…
As the big day approaches, I am starting to make the final preparations for the festive meal.
We are going to have the four bird roast from Marks and Spencers with Parmentier Potatoes and a spread of vegetables.
Hopefully it should all go to plan.
Christmas Four Bird Roast
Well my plan for a Christmas Four Bird Roast was scuppered last year. I had intended to order one from Marks and Spencers which consisted of Turkey, Goose, Duck, Chicken.
However when I went to order it was apparent that many others had had the same idea and it had sold out! I am guessing that a) a lot of people were like me and liked the concept b) the Marks and Spencers version was good value for money at £100. There was no way you could even do it yourself for £100. Waitrose’s version was £120 and only consisted of a three bird roast.
So this year I got in early and managed to order one.
Now from the description I believe that this isn’t in fact four birds one stuffed within another, but a large turkey stuffed with goose, duck, chicken and stuffing. Still it sounds nice, and according to the person at Marks and Spencers who I ordered it from, it went down well at their Christmas last year.
Paella
Made a homemade paella the other day.
Took some onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them together in a large heavy pan with a splash of olive oil.
Add some diced raw chicken.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I would have added a splash of white wine, but alas there was no wine in the house.
So I then added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella. I also added half a tin of chopped tomatoes. In case you wonder what to do with the other half, I made a spicy tomato sauce for patatas brava.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
A few minutes before serving add raw prawns and slices of chorizo. I was using cooking chorizo which I had cooked separately. A handful of chopped parsley adds flavour and colour.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns to hand, nice to have used squid and mussels.
Yo Sushi
I have had Yo Sushi before, I had some time to wait before my train so decided to sit down and eat rather than buy the takeway that I normally buy.
The concept of Yo Sushi may be familiar to anyone who has been to Japan it certainly is a weird concept for many in the UK.
Sit down and watch as little bowls of sushi pass you by on a conveyor belt. Help yourself to the ones that you want. After you have eaten they count the bowls you have eaten and charge you accordingly. Not all the bowls are the same price and range from £1.70 to £5.00. The price depends on how much is in the bowl and what ingredients are used.
As well as the cold dishes on the conveyor belt you can order soup and hot dishes from the waiting staff.
I looked at the menu and the first two items I chose were not available. So I ordered Chicken Yakitori, char-grilled chicken skewers with a soy-mirin glaze and Prawn Katsu, crispy fried prawns in Japanese bread crumbs, with a fruity sauce. I had wanted to order Prawn Tempura and Chicken Teriyaki .
While I was waiting for the hot food I started off with a crayfish salad which was very pleasant. The hot food then arrived (quicker than anticipated). The prawns were good and the chicken skewers were sticky.
I then picked a Salmon Nigri from the belt. The salmon lacked flavour but the rice was okay.
My final dish was Spicy Pepper Squid which was very nice and a good finish to my meal.
Still think it was cheeky that they charge £1 for water!
I will go again.
Paella
Made a homemade paella the other day.
Took some onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them in a large heavy pan.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I added a splash of white wine. Then add the saffron and chicken stock.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
I had already cooked the chicken and the prawns, I was also using cooking chorizo which was cooked separately.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns. I would have probably also cooked the chicken in the rice, but that was done separately on this occasion.