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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.
In a large frying pan, place some olive oil and butter. Then add some finely chopped onion, red pepper, courgette and pancetta.
Soften the onions.
Bring up the heat.
Add the risotto rice and ensure that the rice is coated in the oil and butter.
Add a splash of white wine.
Now add some chicken stock.
Keep topping up with stock to ensure that the rice doesn’t dry out.
Once the rice is virtually cooked, add a large handful of grated parmesan, some chopped parsley and some freshly ground black pepper.
Serve, garnish with a few slices of lemon.
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.
I have done this lentils recipe quite a lot now, so here is a more detailed and illustrated version.
Heat a frying pan and add some chopped pancetta. There is no need to add any extra oil as there is sufficient fat in the pancetta.
This is a variation on a salad I blogged about a month ago or so.
Take some mixed leaves, I like the peppery flavour of rocket in my salads so I used that alongside some sliced Romaine lettuce.
Place them on a plate.
Add some sun dried tomatoes, I use SunBlush as they are not as chewy as “proper” sun dried tomatoes.
Add some chopped cucumber, depending on how thick or tough the skin is, you can either leave or peel. I peeled as the skin on my organic cucumber was quite tough.
Dress with some extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and black pepper.
Top the salad off with some pan fried (until crispy) pancetta bacon.
Serve with fresh bread.
A salad variation on the classic BLT sandwich.
Take some mixed leaves, I like the peppery flavour of rocket in my salads. Place them on a plate.
Add some sun dried tomatoes, I use SunBlush as they are not as chewy as “proper” sun dried tomatoes.
Dress with some extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and black pepper.
Top the salad off with some pan fried (until crispy) pancetta bacon.
Serve with fresh bread.
This is a nice accompaniment to many different dishes.
Take some new potatoes and boil for about fifteen to twenty minutes, drain (and importantly allow to dry).
In a large frying pan, fry off some pancetta and rosemary before adding the potatoes. Cook the potatoes and if required crush and then serve.
This is a nice dish for a dinner party and can be prepared quickly and easily.
Take some pork medallions (thick slices of pork tenderloin) and place them on slices of apple – I peeled and cored the apple. Place a basil leaf and then wrap round a slice of pancetta bacon.
Place in a roasting dish and splash with olive oil and season with ground black pepper.
Roast in the oven for twenty to thirty minutes until cooked. I made one mistake which was to roast them in a pan, when they really needed a grill pan.
Serve.
One dish I seem to make much more on a regular basis is pan roasted chicken.
This is an easy and quicker dish than a simple roast chicken in many ways.
Start off with some chicken, either joint a whole chicken, or buy some thighs and legs (they have more flavour).
Place them in a pan with onions, pepper, pancetta, mushrooms, cubes of bread, herbs and a good dash of olive oil.
You can add other things as well such as sweet potato, parsnip, partially cooked potato, tomatoes, sausages and courgettes if you so wish.
Roast in a hot oven for about thirty to forty minutes.
The bread is a key as this will soak up the wonderful juices.
This is a nice pasta dish that is quick and easy to make.
In a large frying pan, fry off some pancetta and half a finely chopped onion.
Then add some mushrooms and freshly chopped parsley.
When nearly cooked, add half a tub of creme frache.
For the pasta used a fresh egg and spinach linguine.
It only takes a couple of minutes to cook, mix with the sauce and then serve with a sprinkling of grated parmesan and ground black pepper.