food, reviews and of course coffee
This was a dish I recently served up.
The lentils were cooked in my usual way which is outlined in this blog article.
I poached the chicken, I take a pan of water, add some herbs, some onion, a carrot and if I had other veg I add that.
I bone the chicken and place in the pan and simmer for ten minutes.
Remove allow to dry for a while.
I then sliced and placed on a very hot griddle to add some colour.
Currently roasting a chicken.
Chicken is an organic free range bird, stuffed with a sausagemeat stuffing and draped with pancetta bacon.
Going to serve it with traditional accompaniments including roast potatoes, roast parsnips and steamed vegetables.
Well we had a really nice Christmas Dinner. We had roast chicken, roast saddle of venison and a boned and stuffed roast duck.
The chicken was a free range corn fed bird which I stuffed with a homemade herb and sausage meat stuffing. I also added butter under the skin to keep the breast meat moist. The venison I wrapped in pancetta and simply roasted on a bed of chopped veg. The duck was purchased from Sainsburys and was boned and stuffed with an apricot stuffing.
All were delicious.
I served the meats with roast potatoes, roast parsnips (which were coated in an olive oil and honey), steamed vegetables, a variety of additional stuffings, chipolatas and yorkshire puddings.
Well my plan for a Christmas Four Bird Roast was scuppered this 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 instead…
We’re going to have (separately) chicken, duck and venison.
I was (as I suspect others were) with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s incredible ten bird roast he did for Christmas for this River Cottage series.
This year I am considering having a four bird roast for Christmas.
Now the key question for me is do I do it myself, or because of time constraints do I buy one in. I am considering getting one from Marks and Spencers but wondering if I can get a better one elsewhere.
For lunch today I popped into Debenhams in Bristol which I know is never the best place to go and eat (especially as there are more choices now with Cabot’s Circus open) however they do nice children’s lunch boxes which the children like.
I decided to try the Chicken Kebab on Flat Bread with Sweet Chilli sauce, which came in at £4.75
Well it was cooked fresh to order (so the sign said) and was one of the reason I chose it, rather than go for something which had been standing under the hot lamp for a while.
After about eight minutes it was ready (they use those buzzer things) and off I popped to pick it up.
Let’s just say it was nothing to shout home about, something I wouldn’t recommend to anyone and I would never buy it again.
The chicken was just plain tough, and was merely cooked chicken re-heated, hardly freshly cooked to order! It’s surprising how tough twice cooked chicken can be. Also not very much of it, just a single skewer. Why do places like Debenhams which for example were cooking gammon from fresh can’t do the same with the chicken? The flat bread was like a naan, but tough, almost stale in places. The sweet chilli sauce was way too sweet and didn’t really have any kick.
Overall I was very disappointed, I was expecting it to be much better than it was, my local kebab shop could do much better.
I do quite like poaching chicken, it allows me to cook chicken quickly and keep is tender and moist.
However the downside is that it can look a bit unappetising.
Here is what I did recently when poaching chicken, though it might be worthwhile talking about the poaching itself.
I take a pan of water, add some herbs, some onion, a carrot and if I had other veg I add that.
I bone the chicken and place in the pan and simmer for ten minutes.
Remove allow to dry for a while.
I then place the cooked chicken onto a roasting tray, and drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
I then roast them in a hot oven for ten minutes to give them some colour.
As a result quickly cooked moist and tender chicken with colour.
I served it with a vegetable risotto.
Done.
Well I mentioned I had purchased Paul Rankin’s Irish Pork Sausages again.
This time I roasted them in the oven with chicken, red pepper, mushrooms and pancetta.
I served it with a lemon risotto.
Following on from my earlier post, found an interesting article in the Guardian about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s attempts to change Tesco’s chicken policy.
The campaign to improve the welfare of chickens sold in Tesco stores, led by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hijacked the company’s annual meeting yesterday, drawing groans from the pensioners and standard bearers of middle England there to pose a question about their local store or to take advantage of a spot of free lunch.
Well worth reading.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, he of River Cottage
The BBC reports on his attempt at the Tesco shareholders meeting.
Tesco shareholders have not backed proposals to improve welfare standards for chickens championed by TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
The chef wanted investors to adopt new standards for rearing birds, but the plan got fewer than 10% of votes at its annual general meeting in Solihull.
Read more.
Though this is a setback for Hugh’s campaign, a lot of consumers are changing their own buying habits. Over the last few years virtually all of the chicken I buy has been organic for me the main reason has been flavour and concerns about chemicals used.
I have noticed recently in both Sainsburys and Morrisons the amount of shelf space they give free range, organic and RSPCA Freedom chicken has really increased.
However with the continuing economic pressures on consumers, will price give way to quality and taste? According to an article I read in the Guardian, the answer is no, as what goes first with an economic downturn is going out to restaurants.
So what kind of chicken do you buy and why?