Showing posts with label Poultry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poultry. Show all posts
As you all know I had a lovely visit to the Yeo Valley Farms a few weeks ago which the Toddster and I both thoroughly enjoyed. There is something really special about going to see where your food comes from, and it's even more special when you are able to see the extra care and attention some producers put into what they produce.
I think with Yeo Valley this extends to every portion of their huge operation. I can say this because several months back I had purchased their cookery book from Amazon.uk. When it arrived there were a few blank pages in it that had not printed.
I contacted the Yeo Valley people just on the off chance that they would be able to provide me with the missing recipes and they sent me a whole brand new cookbook, which they really didn't have to do! I have to say though, that I did appreciate the extra care and when I visited their farm operation, they actually remembered me, which is another plus as far as I am concerned. Everyone likes to know that they are remembered. I do at any rate!
I had been eyeballing this recipe in the book for quite some time. Pot Roasted Chicken with Cider and Apples. It was calling my name. I was just waiting for the perfect weather to cook it and with the cooling temps the time was just right!
Because we are Mormons, we don't drink alcohol in our home, but I am not adverse to cooking with it. MY Bishop's wife down south did and so if she thought it was ok, that was enough for me. This recipe calls for a quantity of good apple cider, which is alcoholic, but if you were not wanting to use cider, you could use a good quality apple juice . . .
I contacted the Yeo Valley people just on the off chance that they would be able to provide me with the missing recipes and they sent me a whole brand new cookbook, which they really didn't have to do! I have to say though, that I did appreciate the extra care and when I visited their farm operation, they actually remembered me, which is another plus as far as I am concerned. Everyone likes to know that they are remembered. I do at any rate!
I had been eyeballing this recipe in the book for quite some time. Pot Roasted Chicken with Cider and Apples. It was calling my name. I was just waiting for the perfect weather to cook it and with the cooling temps the time was just right!
Because we are Mormons, we don't drink alcohol in our home, but I am not adverse to cooking with it. MY Bishop's wife down south did and so if she thought it was ok, that was enough for me. This recipe calls for a quantity of good apple cider, which is alcoholic, but if you were not wanting to use cider, you could use a good quality apple juice . . .
You saute some fabulous aromatics in the pot . . . bacon lardons, onions, garlic, rosemary . . . and then you add the cider and reduce it somewhat . . . the well seasoned chicken is then placed on top, a quantity of chicken stock poured over all and then it is oven braised for a time . . .
Until the chicken is tender and moistly cooked through . . . and the sauce filled with all of the juices from the chicken, combined with that lovely reduction you began with. Whilst the chicken is braising you saute dessert apples in butter until they are golden brown . . .
Once the chicken is done, you remove it to rest and then created a delicious sauce with the braising liquid, cream, and those tender and golden sauteed apples . . .you then serve the chicken in tender moist slices, with some of that lucious sauce spooned over top . . .
Just look at that gorgeous sauce and tender chicken . . . with it's chunks of sweet apple, bits of bacon . . . a creamy and unctuously wonderful combination that is quite, quite pleasing. I do hope you will put this on your list of autumnal bakes this year. You will NOT be disappointed if you do. Trust me on this.
*Pot Roasted Chicken with Apples and Cider*
Served 4 When the chicken is cooked through and tender, lift it out onto a large board. Cover tightly with foil and leave to rest for about 10 minutes. Put the flameproof casserole over medium heat and simmer until the cooking juices are reduced and full of lovely flavours. Rub the remaining butter and the flour together. Drop this into the reduced chicken juices, whisking constantly, simmering until the mixture has thickend nicely. Whisk in the double cream and then taste and adjust seasoning as necessary with salt and black pepper. Stir in the parsley and the apple.
To serve, carve the chicken into nice pieces and divide between 4 heated plates. Spoon over the sauce and serve.
I like to have this with some boiled baby potatoes, and peas and carrots. But mash and steamed broccoli would go equally well! It's delicious no matter what!
Quite often when I cook I don't have a particular recipe in mind. I just kind of throw things together and it works. I call it cooking by the seat of your pants! I will look to see what I have in the fridge that needs using and then I'll just put them together in a way that more often than not turns out to be quite delicious.
Like today for instance . . . I had two chicken leg quarters (with leg and thigh together) and a variety of root vegetables and at first I thought I would do a casserole of sorts . . . but then I decided to just do a simple tray bake. No sauce involved . . . just some herbs and salt and pepper, a bit of paprika and some garlic, some olive oil. You toss the vegetables in this and then spread them out onto a baking sheet.
The chicken quarters get rubbed with some more of the herbs and some olive oil and then placed on top, and then the whole thing gets roasted until the vegetables are tender and beginning to caramelize and the chicken is golden brown and almost done through.
You give the veg a bit of a stir and drizzle some honey on the chicken and bang it all back into the oven for a few minutes longer . . . just until the chicken is cooked through and nicely glazed and golden brown.
I hesitate to call it a recipe really . . . as it is quite simple to do actually, and quite variable. You could use any combination of vegetables,depending on what you have to hand, and any herb you might have as well. Rosemary and marjoram and savory all work very well as does sage, or even a combination of the lot.
The simple things in life really are the best things I think. If you enjoy sweetly roasted and caramelized vegetables and succulent and moistly tasty chicken you will love this! Enjoy! We did!
*Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Tray Bake*
Serves 2
1 sweet potato, peeled
1 parsnip, peeled
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
olive oilsalt and pepper
Preheat your oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 5. Line a baking tray which has sides with some foil. Lightly oil the foil and then set aside.
Prepare
your vegetables. Cut the potato into wedges. Place them into a
bowl. Cut the sweet potato into 1 inch cubes. Put them into the bowl.
Cut the carrots in halve lengthwise and then cut the halves in half.
Place them into the bowl. Repeat with the parsnit. Cut the turnip into
1 inch chunks. Quarter the beetroot. Place into the bowl with the
other vegetables. Add the onion. Mix together all of the herbs along
with some salt and pepper. Reserve about 1/2 tsp of this mixture.
Put the remainder into the bowl with the vegetables along with a good
dollop of olive oil. Toss all together with your hands and then spread
them out on the baking tray. Rub the chicken quarters with the
remainder of the herb mixture and a bit of olive oil. Place these on
top of the vegetables.
Divide the vegetables and chicken between two heated plates and serve immediately.
This is actually something which I cooked a few weeks back but held off showing you because it seemed like too many chicken recipes in a row! (Not that you can ever eat too much chicken in my opinion, but . . . there ya go!) I didn't want you getting bored.
One of my favourite fresh herbs has to be tarragon. It has long velvety green leaves and a lovely distinctive aniseed flavor which I quite enjoy, going very well with fish and chicken. I use it in my Cod Fish Cakes and tartar sauce, which is gorgeously delish if I don't say so myself! I haven't made them in a while now . . . hmmm . . .
It's used a lot in French Cookery, particularly with chicken (think Chicken Tarragon here) and makes wonderfully flavourful vinegars and oils. It is one of my favourite herbs that I grow in my garden and it's doing quite well at the moment . . . so when I found myself in the position of having some leftover roasted chicken a week or so ago I decided to combine the two and make one of our favourite chicken casseroles . . . Chicken Savoyarde . . .
This is a deliciously comforting chicken dish, composed of gently poached chicken (or leftover chicken if you have it) in a wonderfully rich mustard and tarragon cream sauce . . . this casserole is special enough that you could fix and serve it to company . . .
Actually it is the perfect company dish because you can make it up completely ahead of time, the night before in fact . . . and then just top it with the crumbs and heat it up in the oven while you are visiting with your guests.
I like to serve it with steamed baby new potatoes and a green vegetable . . . like broccoli. Broccoli is very good with it. I am particularly fond of baby stem broccoli . . . oh, and asparagus. That is also nice. But then again . . . peas and early beans are coming into their own at the moment too . . .
By all means poach your own chicken to use in this if you want. You won't regret it and it won't heat your kitchen up too much . . . It's not that hard to do and ensures nice moist meat . . . but leftover roast chicken is awfully good too. I love the soft velvety and creamy sauce against the moist chicken and that cheesy bread crumb crunch on top is just . . . oh . . . la . . . la
*Chicken Savoyarde*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
This is not much more than a glamorous chicken casserole and so very easy to make. It's a great way to dress up leftover turkey or chicken if that's all you have, but well worth the extra effort and expense of buying a chicken purposely to poach and dress up in this simple but decadently delicious manner. This will have them scrambling for seconds.
For cooking the chicken:
1 (4 1/2 lb) free range chicken, organic if possible
2 small onions, cut in half and stuck with two cloves
2 carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
3 stick of celery, halved (preferably with some leaves attached)
2 leeks, trimmed and well washed
2 bay leaves
2 springs of thyme
salt
For the sauce:
60g (4 TBS) butterServes 6
Printable Recipe
This is not much more than a glamorous chicken casserole and so very easy to make. It's a great way to dress up leftover turkey or chicken if that's all you have, but well worth the extra effort and expense of buying a chicken purposely to poach and dress up in this simple but decadently delicious manner. This will have them scrambling for seconds.
For cooking the chicken:
1 (4 1/2 lb) free range chicken, organic if possible
2 small onions, cut in half and stuck with two cloves
2 carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
3 stick of celery, halved (preferably with some leaves attached)
2 leeks, trimmed and well washed
2 bay leaves
2 springs of thyme
salt
For the sauce:
60g plain flour (generous half cup)
415ml of the stock, reserved from poaching the chicken (1 3/4 cup)
285ml dry white wine (generous cup)
225ml double cream (1 cup)
180g gruyere cheese, grated (3/4 cup)1 TBS Dijon mustard
2 ounces tarragon leaves, chopped (scant quarter cup)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To top:
60g of fresh white bread crumbs (1 cup)
30g of grated strong cheddar cheese (1/4 cup)
2 TBS of grated Parmesan cheese
To Poach the chicken: Put the chicken into a large pot along with cold water, barely enough to cover it. Add the vegetables and herbs and a good sprinkling of salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat immediately and poach very gently for around an hour and a half. Once cooked thoroughly and tender, lift the chicken very carefully out of the poaching liquid onto a plate and allow it to cool. Strain the poaching liquid through a fine sieve, and set aside to cool. Once cooled, lift off any surface fat. I like to use paper kitchen toweling for this. I just keep sweeping it over the top and it lifts and absorbs all the grease. You could also put it into the fridge to chill and the fat would harden to the point where you can just lift it off quite easily.
Remove all the meat from the chicken carcass, discarding any fat, bone or gristle. Cut into large bite sized pieces and place in a lightly greased gratin dish.
To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook over medium low heat for at least three minutes, without browning. Gradually whisk in the hot chicken stock, white wine and the cream. Cook and stir until bubbly and thickened. Whisk in the gruyere cheese, mustard and tarragon. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with some sea salt and black pepper. Simmer for about 20 minutes over low heat.
Pre-heat the oven to 230*C/450*F. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the gratin dish. Mix the bread crumbs and Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses together and sprinkle evenly over top. Bake the dish in the heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and serve.
We like to have this with steamed baby potatoes and a green vegetables. Don't think about the calories!
Note - If you can't get fresh tarragon, it is acceptable to use dried. Use half the amount in that case.
Chicken and Ham Lasagna. Not a usual combination, but incredibly delicious. Lasagna noodles are somewhat different over here in Europe.
They're not long and ruffle edged. They are flat edged, and about 4 by six inches in size, small rectangles.
I had some cooked chicken and some cooked ham that needed using up today. I could have made a cordon bleu type of casserole, but I wanted something different.
I was craving pasta . . . which as you know my husband hates. I think I finally found a pasta dish he sorta likes though. Maybe.
Chicken and Ham Lasagne. I found the recipe in a cookbook I love. Rachel Allen Home Cooking. I didn't follow it exactly . . .
I rather adapted it a bit, but then again . . . that's what I like to do.
I find a recipe that works for me and then I adapt it to our tastes and my rather lazy way of cooking.
I have always loved Rachel Allen's recipes and her cookery shows. She is the daughter in law of Dorinda Allen, the doyenne of the Ballymoe Cooking school in Ireland.
I have always loved Rachel Allen's recipes and her cookery shows. She is the daughter in law of Dorinda Allen, the doyenne of the Ballymoe Cooking school in Ireland.
The food Rachel cooks is real food. Nothing artsy fartsy there. You don't have to run out and buy special ingredients or equipment.
That's my kind of cooking. Simple and wholesome ingredients. Simple cooking methods. Economical use of what you have in the larder . . .
I added some frozen spinach to the recipe I like to get veggies in wherever I can.
I added some frozen spinach to the recipe I like to get veggies in wherever I can.
I also added extra cheese to the top . . .
. . . because we like cheese, and that's how I roll. You can never have too much cheese to my way of thinking.
. . . because we like cheese, and that's how I roll. You can never have too much cheese to my way of thinking.
Its like bacon . . . more is . . . delicious. Things just taste better if there's cheese and/or bacon involved.
This was quite simply fantastic! It helped me to use up my leftovers. It was cheap to make.
This was quite simply fantastic! It helped me to use up my leftovers. It was cheap to make.
My husband almost loved it. Ok, so maybe love is a bit of an exaggeration.
I LOVED IT . . . he just kinda liked it . . . a lot. That's as much as he would concede.
I think he's afraid that if he actually ever admitted to loving anything with pasta in it . . . that would open a dam or something . . . pasta would start raining down on him like cats and dogs . . .
I think he's afraid that if he actually ever admitted to loving anything with pasta in it . . . that would open a dam or something . . . pasta would start raining down on him like cats and dogs . . .
Perish the thought.
And for someone like him, who isn't fond of pasta . . . that just wouldn't do.
And for someone like him, who isn't fond of pasta . . . that just wouldn't do.
He did really really like it though . . . trust me on this. He had two servings.
*Chicken and Ham Lasagne*
Serves 4 to 6
8 cubes of frozen leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
400g of cooked chicken, diced (scant pound)
Spoon the remainder of the ham/chicken mixture
and the spinach over top. Spoon over another 1/3 of the sauce. Top
with the remaining four sheets of lasagne. Spoon the remaining sauce
over all and sprinkle the cheese over top to cover.
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I love Strawberry Season. Whilst the berries we have growing in our garden are not quite ripe yet, fresh English berries are showing up in all of the shops at the moment and we are enjoying them any way that we can.
I try to only eat fruit when it is in season and from the UK, unless it's something tropical like bananas, pineapple and mangoes. I refuse to pay a fortune for berries in the winter when they are sub standard and lacking in flavour. I don't want to eat berries that have taken weeks to get to my table.
During berry season though, I try to eat my fill of them and use them in whatever way that I can. This recipe here today has to be one of my more unusual ways of using them. Mild flavoured chicken breasts serve as the perfect canvas for some beautiful flavour combinations.
Chicken breasts are stuffed with salty Parmesan cheese, which has been wrapped in peppery basil leaves. Then they are sauteed lightly until golden brown in some garlic oil and then finished off in the oven until they are cooked perfectly through, but still moist.
Sweet berries are baked in a dish along side of them . . . their sweetness balanced by some strawberry preserves and rich balsamic vinegar . . .
The end result is deliciously moist chicken filled with melted parmesan and peppery basil, with a sauce of sweet/tart melted berries and a garnish of more peppery basil.
Unusual yes . . . but it all works together perfectly and deliciously. I do hope you will give them a try. I think you just may be surprised and fall in love too!
freshly ground black pepper
For the chicken:
Place
the halved berries into a large shallow glass casserole dish. Whisk
the preserves and vinegar together. Pour over the berries. Season to
taste with some salt and pepper.
Take your chicken
breasts and using a sharp knife, cut a pocket into the thickest part.
Cut the Parmesan cheese into six equal sized sticks, each about 3 inches
in length and 1/2 inch thick. Wrap the sticks in two basil leaves and
insert one wrapped piece into each pocket of the chicken breasts.
Secure shut with wooden picks.Heat the oil in a skillet with an oven proof handle which is large enough to hold all six breasts, over medium heat. Cook the garlic paste in the pan for a few seconds until fragrant. Season the breasts with salt and pepper and place them presentation side down in to the hot pan. Saute until they are golden brown on both sides, turning once and cooking them for about 5 minutes. Pop them into the oven and cook for five minutes. Put the dish with the berries into the oven and cook both the berries and the chicken for a further 12 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the berries have softened nicely. Remove from the oven. Remove and discard the wooden picks. Place the breasts onto a large serving platter. Spoon the melting berries over top and scatter with the chiffonade basil leaves. Serve immediately.
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