Sunday Roast

You will need:
A Chicken, untied and at room temp - get it out of the fridge about 30 mins before cooking.
1 or 2 onions, cut into chunky slices - this will act as the chicken's resting place on the baking tray.
2 Clementine (or other orange citrus fruit), halved.
A few sprigs of fresh Thyme.
1 clove of Garlic, flattened slightly by squashing under the flat side of a knife with your palm.
Half a red pepper per person, cut into fat slices
A good glug (2 tablespoons-ish) of Olive oil
2 teaspoons of sweet Paprika per pepper
Salt

Method
Preheat the oven to 190oC (gas mark 5, 375 F). Lay out the onion slices, garlic & Thyme sprigs in the roasting dish & lay the chicken on top. Squish the Clementine juice over the chicken and then stuff the halves inside the cavity. Sprinkle the chicken with a little salt and put into a preheated oven and roast!

How long depends on the size of your chook, Delia says...

Roast for 20 minutes per lb (450 g) plus 10-20 minutes extra – this will be 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours for a 5 lb (2.25 kg) bird. And then leave it to rest for 30 mins.

When you have 30 mins of cooking time left add the peppers (which you have tossed in the olive oil & paprika) to the roasting dish. Return to the oven and wait for delicious to happen!

Serve along side a mixed leaf salad dressed with balsamic vinegar or some roasted sweet spuds, or both.

Roasted Mushroon Soup

So I've been away from this for a while for a couple of reasons...Firstly, I moved into my first proper home (very exciting but properly run down, messy and time consuming) and promptly ripped out the (almost non-) existing kitchen. So for quite a while I have been eating out or using the microwave. Secondly, I have been studying for professional exams, so haven't had much time for more than setting the time on the microwave! But now I have a bit of a kitchen again and way more time, so expect to see more action here in the near future.

For a while I only had an oven, so was baking everything and anything and this is one of the triumphs. A silky and sumptuous, deeply comforting herby mushroom soup with cheesy garlic toasts.

Ingredients                                                                          

250g Chestnut Mushrooms, cleaned & quartered

2 cloves of Garlic                                                    

3 Shallots, peeled & halved                                  

4 stems of fresh Thyme                                               

A pinch of fresh Oregano leaves                                

1 tsp dried Sage                                                            

1 tbs Olive oil                                                           

A little Salt                                                                

1 cup of Chicken or Veg stock                             

Half a cup of Milk (full fat)                                     

4 slices of Bread (I used seeded Rye)

10g of Butter, soft 

A handful of fresh Parsley, finely chopped              

Grated Cheddar 

Method

1.    ROAST MUSHROOMS, GARLIC, SHALLOTS, HERBS WITH A LITTLE OIL & SALT @ 180 FOR 40 MINS.

2.    REMOVE THE GARLIC & BLITZ  THE OTHER ROASTED INGREDIENTS  IN A BLENDER WITH THE MILK & STOCK UNTIL SMOOTH           

3.    CHOP THE ROASTED GARLIC & MIX WITH THE BUTTER PARSLEY & CHEESE, THEN SPREAD ON BREAD & TOAST UNDER A MEDIUM GRILL UNTIL OOZY & BUBBLING.

Red currant clafoutinis

If you have never made Clafoutis before, now is the time to try. I had very low expectations if I'm honest, but I'm happy to report that it is... actually gorgeous. 

Half way between a soufflé and a pancake and pretty low effort. Any berry will do for this recipe, though you'll need to adjust the amount of sugar for the sour-ness of your fruit. Blueberries in particular would be beautiful.

Serve warm with some clotted cream or a velvety vanilla custard.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup golden castor sugar
• 1/2 cup milk - full fat
• Zest of a lemon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup corn flour
• 1 tablespoon brown butter
• Red currants 1/2 cup- doused in sugar
• Pinch of salt

Method

• Butter and sugar 4 ramekins.
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
• Combine sugar & flours In a bowl. Add salt, milk, egg & cooled melted butter, mix to a smooth batter.
• Arrange the red currants in the ramekins and pour batter over the top. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 25 mins or until well risen and golden on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool a little before dowsing in cream and putting in gob. They will sink but that's supposed to happen (honest) :)

In the words of Arnie..I'll be back...

First for a little tidy up and soon more pics.

I only really have half an oven at the moment, and no hob because the kitchen is under construction. So everything, whether it wants to be or not, is getting baked, as that's the only option.

See you shortly!

Greek Salad Revamped

This is an especially lazy summer salad. If light refreshment on a hot muggy day is what you require then this is the one. No stove (and no sweat) necessary,  just chopping & chucking. FYI the herbs are the dealbreaker here: if you can get your hands on fresh then great but if dried is the order of the day skip the mint and stick with just dried oregano, and it will be just as delish.

Ingredients

1 large cucumber

A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved

A handful of black olives, pitted & halved

100g of Feta cheese, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

A few freshly torn mint & oregano leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Put everything apart from the cucumber into a large bowl. Use a veg peeler to turn the cucumber into fine ribbons, and chuck into the bowl with the rest on the ingredients. Season with black pepper. Toss and serve immediately

Duck & Mango Summer rice paper rolls

Vietnamese summer rolls are usually filled with chicken or prawns, rice noodles and coconut (among other things), but these are a duck and mango version and blooming lovely.

What you'll need

2 Cooked Ducks legs, the meat removed from the bone and then shredded 

1 ripe Mango, cut into baton-ish chunks

1 red chilli, finely sliced

A small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

1 red onion, finely sliced

The juice of 2 Limes

2 teaspoons of black sesame seeds

Salt & black pepper 

Rice papers

What to do

Rice papers take seconds to prep, they just need to soak in recently boiled water for 10 to 20 seconds to soften, so boil the kettle and prep the rest on the ingredients before soaking. This is chopping, shredding and lime-ing up the onions (ie adding a pinch of salt and the lime juice to the onion). This will take out some of the intensity of the onion flavour, keeping in the crunch and also provide a receptacle to hold the lime flavour rather than making everything wet with lime juice. Allow the Limey onion to sit for a few minutes.

Then commence the rice paper soaking. Best to do it 1 or 2 at a time because they stick together like no-bodies business. Once slightly softened, spread out the rice paper and put some of the filling bits in the middle, leaving gaps at the top and bottom. (Best to be a little stingey in the beginning as it's easier to roll a small sausage than a giant, over-stuffed roll). Season with freshly ground black pepper. Fold the gappy bits at the top & bottom up and then Roll..Roll!!

This will make about 10 rolls, which will feed 2 people as a lunch.
Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time (about 40 mins for the duck legs, otherwise none).

Any left over Mango can become a breakfast version the next morning...

 They weren't quite as neat as I'd hoped, but I'm defo getting better at the rolling. And you can cheat at the construction bit by using 2 rice papers at once, one on the bottom with the filling on top and then one on the top (in a sandwich fashion) and then doing the folding bit. This makes the folding a bazillion times easier and you have a bit of a double layer safety net, if there are any accidental rips or tears.

 And deconstructed...(It was early and I was hungry).

YUM

Instant banana, choc chip & maple syrup icecream with salted Marcona almonds

The BIG move is taking a little longer than expected. So to keep you going, have one of these...
This ice cream is glorious, even if the weather isn't! Quick, easy, dare I say it..healthy (well certainly healthier than the usual anyway) and a perfect way to use up the old bananas in your fruit bowl, if you don't fancy the standard banana cake? As the title indicates, this recipe is super quick (after waiting for your bananas to freeze), but beware..it wont re-freeze well (picture solid brick), due to the distinct lack of copious amounts of sugar, so needs to be eaten up, all of it. Probably wont be a problem, once you've had a 1st bite :)   

Ingredients - for 2 enormous servings, or 3 normal people portions. 
3 (ripe - overripe) bananas
50ml milk
15 - 30ml (1-2 tablespoons) maple syrup (depending on how sweet your sweet tooth is)
50g Dark or Plain chocolate, roughly chopped
A handful of Salted Marcona Almonds, roughly chopped

Method
Peel the bananas and place in a freezer bag, and then (you guessed it) in the freezer. Leave them there until completely frozen ( 4 hours should do it).
Once the bananas are frozen and you're ready for dessert, remove them from the freezer bag and put into a food processor. Add the milk & syrup and blend for 2 mins. Scrape down the bowl and blitz again for another 1-2 mins, until the mixture forms smooth, cohesive, soft ripples. Be careful of over blending, as it will turn into a smoothie. Stir in the chocolate and sprinkle over the almonds. Consume immediately.