Leftover Morrocan Roast Chicken
Yesterday’s leftover chicken reheated and served with vegetables that had been roasted with chilli, cumin and garlic. A handful of coriander and some warm wraps and that was tonight’s dinner. Perfect Monday food.
Morrocan Roast Chicken
While I was planning meals for the weekend, I decided that I wanted to roast a chicken with Morrocan flavourings, in a similar way to this leg of lamb. I bought a bulb of fennel, some olives and some preserved lemons and set about putting together said roast chicken. It didn’t take long for me to realise that I was actually just making chicken tagine with a whole chicken instead of pieces.
At this point, Stephen and I had a conversation in which he said something like “Shall we just make chicken tagine?” but I stupidly ignored him and continued with my original plan. I should have listened to him. If I had then we would have had a really good chicken tagine instead of a dish which was very much like chicken tagine but not quite as good.
Our chicken tagine recipe is here, try it, it’s brilliant.
Tea and Cake
Having talked earlier about how we rarely accept items to sample, I’m going to talk about another item I happily said yes to now. This time it was tea and the new range from PG Tips.
I love tea and I drink loads of it. I like it strong and I like it to be Twinings English Breakfast. I will drink other tea but I don’t like it as much. I do however like this new PG Tips tea. Of the three, I naturally preferred The Strong One, it’s very similar to the English Breakfast I favour and is the one I reach for first thing in the morning. Later on, I move on to the The Fresh One which has a lighter flavour and is fruitier. The Delicate One I’m not so keen on. It’s decaffeinated (although it’s pretty good for decaffeinated tea actually) and just doesn’t have as much flavour as the other two.
Since we have so much of it and since I didn’t like it as much as the other two, I decided to use The Delicate One in a cake. This recipe from BBC Good Food is one of the first hits on Google and was perfect since I also had some old, dry raisins that needed using up – the recipe requires them to be soaked overnight in tea and orange juice so that they become plump and juicy.
It was easy to make and it rose well, something I was worried about since I’m not a confident baker. I added some cinnamon, ground cloves and vanilla extract to the mixture too which worked really well with the savoury flavour of the tea.
The comments on the original recipe say it keeps well and I can imagine eating it later in the week spread with butter and maybe some honey. With a cup of tea to accompany it, obviously.
Bacon
I got an email a couple of weeks ago asking if I was interested in trying some bacon. We get a lot of emails asking us to try things and we mostly say no, mostly the products aren’t that interesting, I don’t like writing reviews and, if I don’t like the product then I feel bad writing about it and potentially upsetting the supplier. I wasn’t going to turn down the offer of free bacon though so replied instantly and said yes. I wasn’t however expecting to receive 40 rashers of the stuff.
We used some in the spaghetti alla vodka we ate earlier in the week but the point of the free bacon was to see how the supermarket product compared to the premium bacon from a butcher. I didn’t have any butcher’s bacon and I wasn’t going to add to the 40 rashers so we just fried some up this morning for breakfast. Well, Stephen did. And here’s what he had to say about it.
Two rashers of each type went into the pan. One of the packs said “no added water” on it and I nodded in approval as I laid it into the frying pan along with the others. When cooking, the “no added water” rashers didn’t get covered in white foam and the others did. I pointed this out to Kerri and she (having read the marketing information) said that they were all supposed to be dry cure and that none of them were supposed to release anything. Hmm. I inspected the other packs and they did indeed say “dry cure” on them. Definite release of water though. I should have taken a picture at the time, but when the picture above was taken I had already turned them over.
Anyway, taste is what counts of course, so on to that. Armed with a rasher of each type, some toast, some fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms and a fried egg, I set to work. Tasting the different bacon on their own first before mixing them with anything else, one particular thing stood out: salt. They were all very salty. The flavour and texture did vary slightly between them: one was more porky and thicker, one tasted more like gammon but was oddly flat in texture and the other was somewhere in between in most respects.
The saltiness did tend to overpower the other flavours when eaten on their own, making it a little difficult to discern interesting differences. When eaten with tomatoes, mushrooms, egg, etc, the saltiness was diluted and it didn’t matter so much and they did complement the rest of the breakfast. I was hoping to be wowed by at least one of them which didn’t happen unfortunately, but all three were better than the lower quality supermarket alternatives or bulk generic catering packs that I’ve had the misfortune to be served in some establishments and I would happily eat them in preference for both taste and also animal welfare considerations.
(The bacon was sent to us by the PR company behind “I Love Real Bacon”, I can’t see a website for them though, just a Facebook page).
Purple Sprouting Brocolli Pizza
Pizza is a Friday night staple in our house. It’s fun food, the varieties are endless and it’s also quick and easy which is perfect for a relaxing night at home following a busy week. I was out on Friday night though and since we had decided to try the purple sprouting brocolli topping and didn’t want to wait another week, we went crazy and had pizza on a Saturday night instead. I know, mad aren’t we?
As it turned out, we had a busy Saturday too so we made the dough in advance and left it to rise while we finished off the last of the day’s chores (not that much of a chore actually, since we spent the afternoon at Vagabond, a local wine shop that has a tasting fridge).
The combination (brocolli, chilli, anchovies and lemon zest) is a good one, it’s a classic that works well with pasta, which generally always makes for good pizza topping. We added whole anchovies which were a little over-powering and would have been better simmered in the tomato sauce. The chilli flakes were hot but tasteless, fresh chilli would have been a better option. The brocolli was very good though, adding a depth and richness which reminded us both of the cavolo nero pizza we loved so much last year.
Spaghetti alla Vodka (with bacon)
I started a new job last week and one of the many good things about it is that I get to work from home and therefore save myself an extra two hours a day that I used to spend at the mercy of London Underground. I can also work flexible hours so, in theory, I could start work early and then finish early, giving myself lots of time in the evening to spend in the kitchen. I haven’t quite got myself into a routine yet though so what generally happens is, I finish work and then realise there’s very little food in the house and I have no idea what to cook. I meant to resolve this at the weekend by planning lots of meals that I could start in the morning before work or be ready to prepare when my working day is finished. I didn’t get round to it though, I did however manage to buy vodka which meant we could eat this (original recipe here), never let it be said that I don’t have my priorities in order.
In a happy coincidence, a rather nice man knocked on my door yesterday and presented me with 40 rashers of bacon (more on that later) so I did the only thing I could in that situation, immediately fried some up and added it to the pasta sauce. Of course, everything is better with bacon but this took quite a lot of seasoning and lemon juice before it was properly balanced (Sainsbury’s have stopped selling my favourite San Marzano tomatoes so I tried some tinned cherry tomatoes which weren’t brilliant: too sweet and too much skin) but, once it was balanced, it was a good combination.
Of course, now I not only have to work out what we’re going to eat next week but I also have to work out how to incorporate those 40 rashers of bacon before they expire.
Mexican Breakfast
Having over-catered somewhat on Saturday night, we ended up eating leftovers on both Sunday and Monday. While I’m not a fan of eggs, Stephen loves them so it was with great delight that he topped his leftovers with a fried egg on Monday night. I was out when he took this picture but I’m glad to see he followed the golden rule when it comes to egg shots: always make sure to show the yolk.
Mexican Style Whole Chicken
We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night and, after exploring pretty much every cuisine we could think of, we settled on Mexican food. The reason it took us so long to decide is that we wanted to cook Maddhur Jaffrey’s chicken but in a different style. We both thought it would work brilliantly with a Thai twist but our local Thai supermarket is closed and we knew we would struggle to get all the relevant ingredients. So, we went Mexican instead since we had everything we needed.
The original Indian recipe uses yoghurt in the first part of the marinating process but we reasoned that lime juice would do a similar job. With hindsight, I think we should have used yoghurt as the flavours didn’t penetrate the chicken quite as well as they did last time. Aside from that, it all worked out pretty well. The chicken didn’t seem quite as moist as it did last time but it wasn’t too noticeable, some extra marinating juices would have been useful here though.
We also decided to try our luck with a pork fillet which didn’t work so well. Pork shoulder would be very good though due to all that extra fat.
Beans, green rice, tortillas and guacamole completed the meal.
(I’ll post the chicken recipe tomorrow, Stephen did most of the work and I’m not sure what went into the marinade).
Pot Roasted Chicken with Mustard
Oh dear, another unintentional break in posting due to busy schedules and pre-summer diets. We have of course been eating but none of it has been that interesting unfortunately. There just hasn’t been the time to think about food or spend much time preparing it. And healthy food isn’t really my forte so there’s been a lot of salads with some kind of protein and quite a lot of toast.
This chicken dish was interesting though and was enjoyed at the height of my mustard obsession. Simple pot-roasted chicken with a variety of mustards added to the cooking juices. A good alternative to roast chicken for a Sunday lunch – you don’t get the crispy skin but since it’s not diet-compliant, I can’t have it anyway. The chicken will remain moist even if you forget about it for a little while so it’s also a good alternative if you’re not confident with timings.
Pot Roasted Chicken with Mustard
This doesn’t really require a recipe but the steps are:
Brown the chicken all over
Transfer it to a casserole dish and sit it on top of some onions, carrot, celery and a bay leaf
Add some water and wine
Put the casserole dish into an oven preheated to 180 degrees
Cook for about an hour and a half
Remove the chicken to a plate to rest, cover with foil
Put the casserole dish on the hob
Skim the fat
Add mustard of your choice
Bring to the boil
Reduce the heat and simmer
Check for seasoning and thicken if you wish
Serve
Cheese Scones with Bacon Jam
Yep, BACON jam. Jam, made of BACON. It’s jam but it’s got BACON in it. How great does that sound?
I’ve had variations of this recipe saved for ages since it was doing the rounds of the American food blogs a couple of years ago. It was only during the recent recipe-clearout that I came across it again and, since then, it’s never been far from my thoughts. I originally thought it would be great to serve with a selection of cheeses but then, in a moment of inspiration, it occurred to me that it would be brilliant with cheese scones. And what better way to spend a rainy Saturday than in the kitchen, baking scones and making jam?
I’ve only attempted scones once in recent years and I think it’s fair to say they were a disaster. So much so that I haven’t bothered since. I used to make these particular cheese scones a lot when I was much younger though and they always turned out okay so I felt pretty confident as I started making the dough. I made sure to handle the dough carefully and not over-work it and I worked quickly so as to not expose the mixture to the heat of the kitchen for too long. And they turned out well, if a little browner than I would have liked on top. The two smaller “chef’s treats” we made with the leftover dough tasted promising and we left the others to cool.
While I was doing that, Stephen started making up the bacon jam. It’s not a quick process but it isn’t complicated either. When the initial stages were complete, we had to wait two hours for it to reduce and for all the flavours to combine so we did the only thing we could have done in this situation: we went to the pub. When we came back, we removed the jam from the oven and left it to cool overnight. This afternoon, we completed the final blending step and then sat down for a spot of Sunday tea. The jam was very sweet but had a complex, smoky flavour from the chilli and the bourbon which complemented the sharp cheese scones very well. Not a traditional afternoon tea but an interesting, tasty one nonetheless.
Cheese Scones (very slightly adapted from Delia’s recipe in the Complete Cookery Course)
Makes about six scones
175g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
25g butter
75g Cheddar cheese
1 egg
2 tbsps milk
Start by sieving together the flour, mustard powder, salt and paprika. Mix well.
Next, lightly rub in the butter using only your fingertips. Be careful not to over-work the mixture and stop when you have a crumby texture. Now add most of the cheese, leaving a little for the tops of the finished scones.
Mix together the egg and the milk and then tip that into the flour mixture. Work the liquid into the flour but again, use your fingertips and try to be light-handed. You want the final dough to be smooth but don’t knead the mixture as you would bread dough.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 3 cms. Cut the scones using a 4 cm cutter. You should be able to get six with a little leftover which you can form into a smaller scone but remember it will need less cooking time.
Lay the scones onto a buttered baking sheet, brush the tops with some milk, add the leftover cheese and sprinkle with a little paprika (this will go very dark though so you can leave this out if you wish) and then bake for 15 minutes at 220 degrees. I checked the scones at 15 minutes and they didn’t seem to be cooked so I put them back for another 3 minutes, the eating tells me I should have pulled them out at 15 minutes though. Test with a knife, they are cooked when the knife comes out clean.
Bacon Jam (from this blog)
Makes one jar
450g smoked, streaky bacon, cut into 1″ pieces
1 large onion, sliced
3 tbsps light brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
125ml strong coffee
60ml cider vinegar
125ml bourbon (we used Four Roses bourbon, a bottle of which was sent to us for cooking with some time ago but we didn’t get around to using)
60ml maple syrup
1 tablespoon chilli sauce
Start by cooking the bacon over a medium heat until it begins to brown. You want the edges to be crispy but you don’t want to cook all the fat out. Once cooked, remove the bacon from the pan and set aside on some kitchen paper to drain.
Remove most of the oil from the frying pan and then add the onions and the sugar. Cook over a medium heat until the onions have cooked right down and started to caramelise. Now add the garlic and spices and cook for about another five minutes.
Add all of the liquids and return the bacon to the pan. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for two hours, checking that there is enough liquid as it cooks.
Let the mixture cool and then blend to a jam-like consistency, don’t puree the mixture too much though, you want some distinct pieces of bacon left in there.
