It's so sad when the roast is over. But, luckily, I've managed to make mine last most of this week! Slightly on the thrifty side I know but while on a budget, it's great. Fried up leftovers and nice hot gravy was delish on Monday andI made stock on Monday too. Here's how:
Pick all the chicken off the bones - keep all bones you can find, even from the drumsticks etc. Lose the skin - If I had a cat or dog this would go to them, and although tasty, I leave it out of stock as it adds grease.
Keep all the meat to one side. Yes, of course I'll use this later.
Then break the bones up and put all into a big pan with an onion, couple of carrots, and a couple of sticks of celery - all chopped chunky - and two bay leaves, a good sprig of thyme, and a few peppercorns. Add water to just cover the bones and veg. Boil for hours - or three, till the water looks really murky and there's a good chickeny smell wafting about.
When you think it's had long enough, put to one side, and leave to cool. Later, seive into containters and fridge (if you're going to use it soon - ie this week), or freeze.
Yum!
And all those bits of good chicken - are good for anything! Make a chunky chowder style soup with sweetcorn and some of the stock?
Or, risotto?
Or, chicken cakes?
I chose chicken cakes - sounds odd? Think fish cakes with chicken instead of fish, and trust me, they're good.
Put a few potatoes on to boil in small cubes.
Finely chop and onion and couple of cloves of garlic, put in a pan with some oil and thyme and soften.
When they're cooked, mash the potaoes, mix in the onion mix and leave to cool down.
Take the leftover chicken, and any leftover stuffing etc and chop into a fine mulch - don't mash it or blitz it - just run a knife over it a few times to make small chunks. (I added some chopped spinach to the chicken too, but only because it was hanging about!)
Add the chicken to the mash mix, with salt and pepper, a good dolop of dijon mustard, an egg, and a good grating of cheese (I only had cheddar, so used that, but have a feeling parmesan would work well here). Mix it all up well. I don't have any quantities as it's hard to know how much chicken you'll have left, I think roughly 2/3 potato, and 1/3 chicken should be a good guide.
Form into burger size patties and fry in a hot pan until you have a good brown crust on each side. As you're reheating chicken give them a good long time in the pan and make sure they're thoroughly heated through. This will be quicker if you don't make them too thick.
We had these with branston pick and a corn on the cob - because that was what we had in the fridge! But it did work well. Tasty.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Sunday, 26 September 2010
A Delicious Chicken Roast
Ok, I know everyone has their own roast method. I haven't braved it since I moved out of home, but have just sucessfully roasted up a small chicken in my new kitchen. Hooray. And here's how I did it.
My chicken was only small (3lb) and I don't have a proper roasting tray, so, I cut 3 small lemons in half and put them in the bottom of a deep roasting tray. In here too I put three cloves of garlic, towards the edge.
With the chicken, I rubbed butter under the skin, salt and peppered it, and stuffed it (with box stuffing - yes Paxo is the best!). I tied up the legs making sure the skin was tight over the stuffing to keep it safe inside the chicken. The chicken sat on the lemons and I arranged par-boiled potatoes and parsnips around it (and drizzled a little olive oil on them).
The chicken went into a hot (200 degree c) oven for 20-30 mins until the skin was golden brown. Then turn the oven down (to 170ish) and cook for another hour. If the skin is getting too brown cover the top of the chicken with foil. Halfway through coooking you can take the chicken out and look around the bottom of the legs and breasts to see pckets of fat - I poke a hole in these and let the juices run into the dish. You should be able to tell when the chicken is done - but just to be sure - poke deep into the breast then press the flat of the knife near the hole. If juices run out they should be clear - if they look even a little bit pink put it back in the oven.
When the chicken's just about done it's gravy-time! I took the chicken out of the oven and rested it on a plate (discard the lemons which should have gone soft and caramelised). I rolled the potatoes and parsnips in the fat and lifted them out onto a flat baking tray - and put them back into the top of the oven - just to get that bit more crispy. The juices from the chicken went into a small saucepan with lots of flour to soak up the fat. (You may find you have far too much of this mix - if so, put half aside and you can use it for more gravy to go with leftovers tomorrow!)
Cook the roux-gravy mix out until it turns a lighter colour, and then slowly add liquid - use the water you've been boiling veg in if you can (I did green beans so used the water from those). So, add the liquid slowly, stirring all the time until you have a thick gravy consistency. Season if you need to and it's ready to go!
And that's that. Get the roasties from the oven and carve the chuck! This was really tasty, the lemon seemed to get into everything - making a really tangy crust on some of the potatoes and parsnips and making the gravy lovely and fruity. Perfect for a Sunday.
My chicken was only small (3lb) and I don't have a proper roasting tray, so, I cut 3 small lemons in half and put them in the bottom of a deep roasting tray. In here too I put three cloves of garlic, towards the edge.
With the chicken, I rubbed butter under the skin, salt and peppered it, and stuffed it (with box stuffing - yes Paxo is the best!). I tied up the legs making sure the skin was tight over the stuffing to keep it safe inside the chicken. The chicken sat on the lemons and I arranged par-boiled potatoes and parsnips around it (and drizzled a little olive oil on them).
The chicken went into a hot (200 degree c) oven for 20-30 mins until the skin was golden brown. Then turn the oven down (to 170ish) and cook for another hour. If the skin is getting too brown cover the top of the chicken with foil. Halfway through coooking you can take the chicken out and look around the bottom of the legs and breasts to see pckets of fat - I poke a hole in these and let the juices run into the dish. You should be able to tell when the chicken is done - but just to be sure - poke deep into the breast then press the flat of the knife near the hole. If juices run out they should be clear - if they look even a little bit pink put it back in the oven.
When the chicken's just about done it's gravy-time! I took the chicken out of the oven and rested it on a plate (discard the lemons which should have gone soft and caramelised). I rolled the potatoes and parsnips in the fat and lifted them out onto a flat baking tray - and put them back into the top of the oven - just to get that bit more crispy. The juices from the chicken went into a small saucepan with lots of flour to soak up the fat. (You may find you have far too much of this mix - if so, put half aside and you can use it for more gravy to go with leftovers tomorrow!)
Cook the roux-gravy mix out until it turns a lighter colour, and then slowly add liquid - use the water you've been boiling veg in if you can (I did green beans so used the water from those). So, add the liquid slowly, stirring all the time until you have a thick gravy consistency. Season if you need to and it's ready to go!
And that's that. Get the roasties from the oven and carve the chuck! This was really tasty, the lemon seemed to get into everything - making a really tangy crust on some of the potatoes and parsnips and making the gravy lovely and fruity. Perfect for a Sunday.
Friday, 24 September 2010
Cannelloni
So, the night before last I attempted a cannelloni in a last minute attempt to do something intersting with mince. I used every pot and pan, as it is rather labour intensive, but a great success! Here's what I did!
Cut up 3 cloves of garlic and two onions - split them between two pans with a little oil in the bottom. Sweat with the lid on until soft.
To one pan add lean beef mince. (This is going to be the filling). Season and fry until all brown. Put the lid on.
Meanwhile, dice a pepper and small (or half a large courgette), add to the other pan. Let soften with the onion.
Make a well in the centre of the mince and let the juice collect, add a beef stockcube and let it dissolve in the juice, also add tomato puree - stir through. Sprinkle with a little flour and put the lid back on.
To the pepper and onion mix add a tin of tomatoes (with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of sugar), and tomato puree. Let this simmer.
So, while these are carrying on in their own little ways - give them a stirr occasionally to make sure they're not misbehaving.
Put an pan of water on to boil, with salt and oil. When it's at a rolling boil, add lasagne sheets (I used about 7). These will take about 7 minutes (depending on what you buy). You only need to cook them unitl they're flexible - they will cook more in the sauce later. Drain them - make sure they don't stick together.
While the water and pasta are boiling, make a while sauce. I use a roux method - flour and butter, cooked out, then cold milk added gradually. Season, take off the head and add cheddar cheese.
So, now all the parts are ready! Put half the tomato sauce in the bottom of a deep baking tray. Take a lasagne sheet, cut in half and spoon the mince mix onto one end. Roll over, so that it makes a tube - pasta on pasta at the end. Lift - carefully - works best using a knife or palate knife. Keep going until the mince and/or pasta are gone, or the dish is full! Then put the remaining tomato sauce on top, try and cover all the pasta. Then pour over the cheese sauce - again, cover as much as you can, but it doesn't matter if tomato sauce shows (just not pasta!).
Then, into a hot oven for 20 mins or so until there's some colour on top. Yum!
****************
This was great - and a good turn out for a first attempt and without a recipe! I've made a spinach one before with fresh homemade pasta which also works brilliantly.
If having friends over, would be good with a green salad and garlic bread!
Tips! (Oh yes, and I think I've got tips too - except, they're more like my cooking ticks!)
Whenever you use tinned tomatoes, add a squirt of puree, sugar, salt and pepper - this stops them tasting like tin and gets them tasting like tomatoes again!
For vegetarians, or to make mince stretch a bit further - aduki beans are great!
When adding a stock cube to mince (to make it really beefy!) push it to once side, or make a well to get at the juice, crumble the cube into the juice and mix to make it dissolve - this makes it mix better into the mince.
Cut up 3 cloves of garlic and two onions - split them between two pans with a little oil in the bottom. Sweat with the lid on until soft.
To one pan add lean beef mince. (This is going to be the filling). Season and fry until all brown. Put the lid on.
Meanwhile, dice a pepper and small (or half a large courgette), add to the other pan. Let soften with the onion.
Make a well in the centre of the mince and let the juice collect, add a beef stockcube and let it dissolve in the juice, also add tomato puree - stir through. Sprinkle with a little flour and put the lid back on.
To the pepper and onion mix add a tin of tomatoes (with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of sugar), and tomato puree. Let this simmer.
So, while these are carrying on in their own little ways - give them a stirr occasionally to make sure they're not misbehaving.
Put an pan of water on to boil, with salt and oil. When it's at a rolling boil, add lasagne sheets (I used about 7). These will take about 7 minutes (depending on what you buy). You only need to cook them unitl they're flexible - they will cook more in the sauce later. Drain them - make sure they don't stick together.
While the water and pasta are boiling, make a while sauce. I use a roux method - flour and butter, cooked out, then cold milk added gradually. Season, take off the head and add cheddar cheese.
So, now all the parts are ready! Put half the tomato sauce in the bottom of a deep baking tray. Take a lasagne sheet, cut in half and spoon the mince mix onto one end. Roll over, so that it makes a tube - pasta on pasta at the end. Lift - carefully - works best using a knife or palate knife. Keep going until the mince and/or pasta are gone, or the dish is full! Then put the remaining tomato sauce on top, try and cover all the pasta. Then pour over the cheese sauce - again, cover as much as you can, but it doesn't matter if tomato sauce shows (just not pasta!).
Then, into a hot oven for 20 mins or so until there's some colour on top. Yum!
****************
This was great - and a good turn out for a first attempt and without a recipe! I've made a spinach one before with fresh homemade pasta which also works brilliantly.
If having friends over, would be good with a green salad and garlic bread!
Tips! (Oh yes, and I think I've got tips too - except, they're more like my cooking ticks!)
Whenever you use tinned tomatoes, add a squirt of puree, sugar, salt and pepper - this stops them tasting like tin and gets them tasting like tomatoes again!
For vegetarians, or to make mince stretch a bit further - aduki beans are great!
When adding a stock cube to mince (to make it really beefy!) push it to once side, or make a well to get at the juice, crumble the cube into the juice and mix to make it dissolve - this makes it mix better into the mince.
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