Chicken Casserole
Yesterday Kerri made chicken casserole with stock that we’d made on Saturday. Today we reheated it and had it for dinner and it was really good. It had a lovely depth of very chickeny flavour and it was just the thing to have on a rather chilly evening. Winter appears to be arriving and we might have to make more of this sort of thing out of necessity.
This is Kerri’s recipe, adapted from a few sources and tailored to what we like:
Chicken Casserole
Serves four
2lb chicken pieces with bones
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper
Oil
125g lardons
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
One large carrot, chunked
225g mushrooms, chopped
500ml chicken stock
300ml white wine
Sprig thyme, chopped
Six sage leaves, chopped
Bay leaf
Two medium potatoes, chunked
Coat the chicken in the seasoned flour.
Heat oil and brown chicken on all sides – about ten minutes.
Remove the chicken and add more oil if necessary.
Add the bacon, celery, onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms and saute for five minutes or until the onions are translucent.
Return the chicken to the pan, stir in the excess flour, add the stock, wine and herbs.
Check for seasoning and cook for one hour on a low heat.
Check for seasoning, add diced potato.
Cook for a further hour (without lid if necessary to reduce liquid).
Check for seasoning and serve with extra vegetables and/or bread.
*Chopped parsley will make the water green, add this just before serving
*Shallots could be used instead of onions
Rib of Beef
We’ve been trying to think of things to go with horseradish since we bought a huge root of the stuff last weekend. Stephen seems to only be able to think of beef and specifically rib of beef when we have the “what goes with horseradish” conversation so, today, that’s what he had. We seared it before cooking in the oven but it was a little too large for our frying pan:
No matter, it worked fine and we then roasted in the oven before serving it with individual yorkshire puddings (look at the new Le Creuset!), green vegetables, slow roasted tomatoes and garlicky mushrooms. And horseradish, obviously!
Chicken Cacciatora
This has been on the to-do list for a while and seemed perfect for the Autumn weather we’ve been having recently but was actually a bit disappointing. It’s similar to the chicken basque that we both love so much and just not as good really. We served it with green vegetables and lots of bread to mop up the leftover juices – that bit was really good!
Fajitas
Neither of us were feelng particularly inspired about dinner tonight, but a couple of days ago we’d discussed fajitas so had them tonight. We had them in a bit of a hurry too, which meant that I forgot to marinate the chicken before cooking it and they didn’t have a lot of flavour. Something to remember for next time – even though they’re quick to make, don’t try to make them too quickly!
Salmon Fishcakes with Horseradish
Last time we made salmon fishcakes, they were a great success and we were keen to repeat that success. We had bought some horseradish on the weekend and were keen to use that too, so we grated some into the fishcakes and also made some creamed horseradish sauce. I’m sad to report that the fishcakes were not that great this time; not much taste despite our dutiful baking of the potatoes and salmon. They tasted salmony enough, but not of much else; the horseradish had mellowed down into insignificance during cooking and they needed more seasoning. Even the photograph looks rather bland.
Hopefully they’ll return to form next time we try. For now, we have loads of horseradish sauce to use up and we’re planning roast beef for the weekend. Mmmmmm roast beef.
Chicken Stir-Fry
Chicken stir-fry. Again. We’re not winning any prizes for originality with this one are we? It’s the best way I know to use up leftover chicken though and since Stephen bought a super-chicken yesterday, we had to do something. It is tasty though and quick to throw together, which is a definite winner on a Monday night.
Quick as it was, we did spend most of the evening in the kitchen tonight using the rest of the chicken to make stock and baking potatoes and salmon for tomorrow night’s fishcakes.
G
Roast Chicken
Mmmmmmm roast chicken. A Label Anglaise chicken from our local butcher, roasted and served with roast potatoes, runner beans, savoy cabbage and carrots. And those strange things on the top left of the picture are jerusalem artichokes; they look deep fried but they were done with the potatoes. And gravy of course. Mmmmm gravy.
The chicken was the largest we’ve had for ages – just over 2kg. So there is a lot of it left for lunches and also dinner tomorrow evening. Will see what we can do with it. There was loads of gravy because I poured almost half a bottle of wine into it in order to use it up, but that unbalanced it rather and by the time I’d added enough stock and water to dilute the wine and make it taste like gravy, we had more than would fit in our gravy jug. It pained me to pour it away afterwards, it but had to be done.
Barbecue
Tonight, after a quick wander around Borough market and the Thames Festival we barbecued some scallops and some bass. The scallops were enormous but really tasty and we finally found a use for the shells that have been hanging around for ages.
The bass was simply stuffed with lemon, parsley and garlic and served with barbecued peppers (brilliant, try them) and our usual salad and new potatoes.
Hamburger
Last night we had a quick supper of hamburgers which we ate while the rubgy was on. Minced beef, grated onion, salt and pepper with a splash of red wine. Served with lettuce, cheese and tomato. Super quick and yummy.
G
Thai Green Curry
We went through a phase of eating this almost every week because we’d found a recipe that was really tasty. We don’t eat it quite so often anymore but both Stephen and I have been craving it for a while. Luckily, we had some paste that we’d made previously in the fridge (eat that Nigella!) so I cooked this while waiting for Stephen to come home. I even managed the rice, sort of.
It was hot and creamy and tasty and fragrant and delicous. We ate it in about five minutes.
G
