Yes, you read that right . . . OVEN Fried Chicken. The eagle has landed and my oven is now up to scratch! It took them long enough, right?
Not complaining, I am just happy its working again. I love my stove, and am not keen to start over with one I'm not familiar with.
My Canon and I are familiar friends . . . partners in crime . . . we know each other well and are happy to keep it that way!
To celebrate it being up and running again, I thought I would make one of my husband's favourite dinners, Oven Fried Chicken . . . . along with Chive & Buttermilk Mash!
He loves his mash. He is a real mashed potato fiend and will eat them any way, any how, any time! They are his preferred form of potato, even over chips!
Not me. I love chips/French fries! But again, having said that, the potato is my favourite vegetable and I enjoy them in any way, shape or form!
The chicken is a fairly simple and easy recipe, one which I have been making for years. No, it's probably not any healthier than oil fried chicken.
It is rather tasty, and not quite as messy to cook, however. Once in a blue moon, I cook it as a real treat! And trust me, it is a treat!
My ex BIL used to love it when I made this chicken. He often requested it if they were coming over for supper.
I used to make about 3 roasting trays full to feed all of us, with firsts and seconds . . . it is that good. Even the cold leftovers are good, which makes it great for picnics as well.
The mash is also a favourite, with plenty of buttermilk, butter and snipped chives. The buttermilk gives it a lovely tang.
Buttermilk is great with potatoes! The chives give a touch of onion flavour, but without the sharpness and strength of an actual onion. It is just right.
The skin and coating on the chicken get nice and crisp in the oven. Its really not as hard to do as frying chicken on the top of the stove.
This is a lot easier, and I think it is every bit as good. In fact I prefer it in many ways.
You melt some butter and oil together in a baking pan first . . . in the oven, until they are lovely and hot. While that is happening you mix together some flour and seasonings.
I use mixed herbs, which are a mix of different dried herbs. Usually equal parts of basil, oregano and marjoram . . . all of which work well with chicken.
If you can't find it in the shops, mix up your own. Just equal parts as above.
The chicken pieces get rolled in the hot melted butter and oil and then shaken/rolled in the flour mixture before you place them back into the pan to bake in the oven.
You bake it for a time and then flip it over and bake it for a while longer, until crisp, golden brown and finger-licking, lip-smacking good!
Prepare yourself to fall in love. Totally and completely in love.
Oven Fried Chicken
Yield: 4 - 5
This is delicious. I don't really think it's any better for you than the deep fried, kind, but once in a blue moon it makes a really tasty treat! It's even good cold. I usually leave the skin on, but you can remove the skin prior to dipping and coating if you wish.
ingredients:
- 80g of butter (1/3 cup)
- 80ml of vegetable oil (1/3 cup)
- 140g of plain flour (1 cup)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 10 pieces of chicken
instructions:
How to cook Oven Fried Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready a large rimmed baking sheet. Put the oil and butter on the baking sheet and set it in the oven to melt the butter while the oven heats up and you get the chicken ready.
- Place all of the dry ingredients into a plastic bag, shaking them together to mix.
- Remove the baking pan from the oven. Roll the chicken pieces, one at a time, in the melted butter and oil, then shake them in the bag of seasoned flour to coat. Set them on a piece of wax paper until you have them all coated. Once they are all coated, place them presentation side down in the melted butter/oil in the pan, leaving some space in between each.
- Bake in the heated oven for 45 minutes. Flip the chicken over and bake for a further 15 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.
The potatoes are just as tasty and just as easy to make.
Its just mashed potatoes, mashed together with some butter, buttermilk and seasoning . . .
with a nice smattering of snipped chives stirred in at the end for additional flavour.
If you wanted to you could also stir in some grated cheddar cheese . . . but today, I thought we were in deep enough!
Chive & Buttermilk Mash
Yield: 4
Delicious fluffy mash, with the tang of buttermilk and sharpness of chives. Your family is sure to love this. Goes with anything and everything!
ingredients:
- 2 pounds floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- ( a maris piper, or a russet type of potato)
- 2 ounces milk (1/4 cup)
- 2 ounces butter (1/4 cup)
- 4 to 6 ounces of buttermilk (1/2 to 3/4 cup)
- 1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
- salt and black pepper
instructions:
How to cook Chive & Buttermilk Mash
- Place the potatoes into a pot of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Cook until fork tender and then drain well. Place back into the saucepan and shake over the residual heat of the burner to dry out. Mash well with a potato masher. Beat in the milk, butter and buttermilk until light and fluffy. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in the chives. Keep warm until you are ready to serve.
I simply served some mixed vegetables on the side. Coleslaw would also be very good I think! In any case, colour me one happy camper! Let the baking begin once more!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!!
I was recently afforded the opportunity to try out the Cookhouse Compact Cold Press Slow Juicer. This is a Masticating Whole Food Juice Extracter, which means that it is a juicer which is able to extract a more nutritious juice. It does this by breaking down plant fibres more thoroughly with a chewing and grinding action, before extracting the juice under pressure. For many health enthusiasts a Masticating Juicer is the tool of choice for getting more from their juicing!!
The Cookhouse Compact Cold Press Slow Juicer has a wide Chamber, is easy Clean, and has a specialised motor for maximum nutrition & pulp extraction of fruit & vegetable juice
✔ WIDE FOOD CHAMBER FOR WHOLE FRUITS - Place whole fruits and vegetables in the wide chamber for quick, easy preparation. No thin slicing or chopping required!
✔ QUIET MOTOR - The slow masticating engine not only extracts nutrients more efficiently - it's quieter than standard juicers for a more peaceful kitchen!
✔ COMPLETELY SEPARATES PULP FROM JUICE - Don't leave valuable vitamins and minerals behind - our specially designed juicer completely gathers all pulp and separates it for the best and smoothest possible drink experience!
As you can see its fairly compact and doesn't take up much counter room in my small kitchen! It also comes with a fine juice strainer, a sorbet strainer (for when you want a thicker juice containing pulp), a handy brush for cleaning the strainers and other parts, and a container to catch the pulp as it comes out of the machine. It separates the pulp from the juice perfectly.
The first juice I decided to make was an apple/carrot/ginger juice. I peeled my carrots and ginger, and cored my apples and cut them into manageable pieces.
Popped them into the juicer, and turned it on. It comes with an excellent instruction booklet which will help you to assemble your juicer properly and prepare your fruit/veg in the best way possible for extraction!
I used two medium carrots, two eating apples and a nice knob of ginger and as you can see I ended up with one nice large sized glass of delicious juice!
It was very easy to do and I was really pleased with the results! A quick rinse through and I was ready to try something else.
The next juice I tried was a combination of strawberries, watermelon and mint.
I used 600g of fresh berries, which I trimmed and cut in half . . . 200g of watermelon chunks, and a healthy sprig of fresh mint, feeding them into the juicer alternately.
This was quite ambition as I ended up with a LOT of juice! But a very tasty juice!
You can see it in operation here. I wish I knew how to post videos, but I haven't be able to figure that out just yet! They do say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I have shared several thousands of words with you here!
I tried to make some strawberry curd with some of my strawberry juice, but it didn't work well, so back to the drawing table on that one. It sounded like a tasty idea and I am not giving up. Another day!
As you can see it cleaned up really well with very little effort. That made me happy. I was able to handwash all of the components easily and without much trouble at all. Bonus! (I am rather lazy you know.)
I am really looking forward to trying out other combinations and varieties of juice now. This machine was very easy to use and gave excellent results, with no need to strain the resulting juice. It was also easy to clean and easy to store, two things which are very important to me. Its also very reasonably priced, which is also important to a couple of pensioners! No waste as any pulp can be very easily composted. I highly recommend! I am truly looking forward to trying other combinations. Watch this space!
To find out more do check it out on the Amazon UK page.
Note - I was sent a juicer free of charge for the purpose of review, but I was not required to write a positive review in exchange. Any and all opinions are entirely my own.
Spiced Carrot Soup. I guarantee you are going to love this carrot ginger soup. Its easy to make and oh so delicious!
We are at that time of year now where our stored and root vegetables are beginning to get tired and no longer at their very best.
Too early for the fresh crops, we make do with what we can get . . . I often find that my onions have started to go a bit . . .
I find myself having to peel off and discard several layers before I get to what is good and usable . . . all of these winter vegetables might be a bit past their prime, but they are still fabulous for things like soups and stews.
You are going to love this soup I am sharing with you today . . . Spiced Carrot Soup, or the soup that almost wasn't! Today was one of those days . . . when anything that could go wrong went wrong . . .
Everything for the soup went together quickly and easily . . . it makes good use of onions, garlic, and carrots . . . some grated fresh ginger root . . . warm spices . . .
Ground cumin, turmeric, cinnamon . . . all very aromatic and when combined most delicious . . .
These are cooked in chicken stock until the carrots are meltingly tender . . . be warned it smells heavenly when it is cooking . . .
After that all you need to do is puree it . . . simple. Right??? Right!!! Normally I would use my stick blender, but do you think I could find the motor for mine today???
It was nowhere to be found. All of the attachments were at the ready, but no motor, and I looked every where . . . even in places it couldn't possibly be, but I thought I would check anyways.
I even had my husband come in and look . . . sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees and I thought perhaps he could see what I couldn't.
I opened one of the upper cupboards to see if I had crazily put it in there and my pack of Miso Paste flew out of the cupboard landing in the soup and splattering it all over the counter top and back splash . . . dripping off my knife block and cutting boards . . . into our toaster . . . grrrr . . .
You know how turmeric stains . . . BLAH! Most annoying
I could not find it anywhere.
I can only think (and I really hope that this isn't what happened) that it got accidentally thrown out the last time I used it, which doesn't make sense, but I don't know where else it could be. I have looked everywhere.
After I cleaned up the mess, I had to dig my big blender out from the back of the wardrobe upstairs, where it is stored.
I was quite happy at that point that I hadn't given it away. It did need a good cleaning however.
Its so big and bulky that it just can't live in my kitchen.
The stick blender does a great job, takes up a lot less room and is a lot easier to clean, so that is normally what I use.
But meh . . . today I had to do what I had to do.
So into the now cleaned blender on the now cleaned counter the soup went. It blitzed up beautifully in about 30 seconds.
I threw poured it back into the saucepan and reheated it gently until it was hot again, and stirring in some lime juice and a bit of brown sugar, it was then ready to eat.
With a dollop of plain yogurt on top and a sprinkling of lemon zest and black pepper it was THE BEST CARROT SOUP EITHER OF US HAS EVER EATEN!
I kid you NOT . . . simple to make (aside from the comedy of errors and happenstances), using simple ingredients, but totally, TOTALLY delicious.
What a wonderful combination of flavours. My husband had two helpings and I was sorely tempted to do the same!
Spiced Carrot Soup
Yield: 4
You can thicken the soup with a handful of basmati rice if you wish. This soup is really delicious as is. If you don't have or can't find sumac, you can substitute a mix of lemon zest and coarse black pepper for it.
ingredients:
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 2 medium onions, peeled and diced
- 2 tsp freshly grated ginger root
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 kg carrots, peeled and sliced (2.2 pounds)
- 1 1/2 litres of chicken stock (about 6 cups)
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 TBS lime juice
- fine sea salt
To serve:
- Plain yogurt
- ground sumac to sprinkle
instructions:
How to cook Spiced Carrot Soup
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan with a heavy bottom. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent without colouring. Add the garlic, grated ginger and all of the spices. Cook, stirring until quite fragrant. Add the carrots and toss to coat them with the spice mixture. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes until the carrots are soft and meltingly tender.
- Remove from the heat and puree using a stick blender, or very carefully in a full sized blender or food processor. Take care as it will be quite hot and you don't want to scald yourself. Return to the stove and gently reheat. Stir in the lime juice and brown sugar. Taste and adjust seasoning as required with salt.
- Ladle into heated bowls, garnishing each with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of sumac. Delicious!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
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We absolutely love fish in this house. I have been preparing and cooking fish since I was a girl. I used to make a dish I called Tomato Baked Haddock for my family when I was a teenager that my mother just loved. It was a simple dish, with frozen haddock fillets being covered with a tin of tomatoes, undrained, salt and pepper, some chopped green pepper and onion, then baked in an oven until done. Sometimes I added oregano. My mother always asked me to make it for her when I went home. She said hers never tasted the same when she did it. Funny how that goes . . . it must have been the love I put into it.
Fish and tomatoes are a beautiful flavour combination, especially when you add some herbs into the mix. This recipe I am sharing today is simple . . . simple ingredients, put together in a simple way . . . but with gorgeous results. So gorgeous that I would serve it to company.
Of course the basis for any good fish dish is really GOOD fish! I cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us, but I started with some fabulous Alaskan Black Cod that I got from a company called The Fish Society. All of their fish is Sashimi Grade, fresh and of an excellent quality.
It arrives frozen and well packed, ready for you to thaw as and when you need it. I've always been really impressed with the quality of their products. Todd thinks it is the best fish he has ever eaten, and he has eaten a lot of fish in his lifetime!
For this dish the fish is treated really simply. Seasoned with salt and pepper . . .
and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice . . . and then baked in a hot oven in dish which you have drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil . . .
Tightly covered with foil, it cooks in between 12 - 18 minutes . . . until it is perfectly cooked.
One thing you don't want to do with a really good piece of fish is to over-cook it and ruin it! There is nothing worse than dry overcooked fish! There is no coming back from that!
The sauce for this dish is a rif on my original tomato baked fish dish, except that the fish doesn't cook in the sauce . . . the sauce complements the fish . . .
Cherry tomatoes simmered with garlic and shallots . . . until they burst their skins . . . and the juices thicken up . . .
Butter is then whisked in a bit at a time until you end up with a rich velvety sauce . . . ready for the addition of fresh herbs . . .
I use fresh basil, flat leaf parsley and chives . . . perfect, 1 TBS of each does the trick, but you can use whatever herbs you like, or even all one herb. I think these three compliment each other and the fish perfectly!
Just look at how perfectly cooked that fish is . . . and how lovely that sauce looks. I served this with some chive mash and spring English peas for the perfect fish supper.
Tomato & Herb Sauced Alaskan Black Cod
Yield: 4 - 6
If you like moist, tender, flaky and flavourful cod, you will love this dish! Perfectly baked fish with a delicious buttery sauce. TO DIE FOR!
ingredients:
For the fish:
- 2 - 2 1/2 pounds fresh cod fillets (sustainably sourced) cut into serving portions
- 1 lemon
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil to drizzle
For the Sauce:
- 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 300g cherry tomatoes (2 cups)
- 120ml chicken stock (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp crushed chili flakes
- pinch sugar
- 4 TBS cold butter, cut into bits
- 1 TBS each chopped fresh parsley, basil and chives
instructions:
How to cook Tomato & Herb Sauced Alaskan Black Cod
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/4))*F/ gas mark 4. Drizzle a baking dish large enough to hold the fish in one layer with some olive oil and place it into the oven to heat.
- Begin making the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until softened without browning. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, salt, pepper flakes and sugar. Simmer until the tomatoes break down and burst, releasing their juices, and the sauce has thickened somewhat with most of the stock having evaporated. Whisk in the butter, bit by bit, until you have a thick velvety sauce. Stir in the herbs, cover and set aside, keeping it warm.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven. Place the fish into the dish, skin side down. Season generously with salt and black pepper. Squeeze the lemon juice over all. Cover tightly with aluminium foil and return to the oven. Bake for 12 to 18 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with the tines of a fork. (Time depends on the thickness of your fish.)
- Remove from the oven and place on a heated serving platter, spooning the sauce over and around. Serve immediately.
Every time I taste this lovely fish I ask myself why don't we eat it more often than we do. It is just excellent excellent fish. Quality speaks for itself. The Fish Society has all kinds of fish, fish that you normally won't find in the shops. Its like having your own private fish monger on line and on tap! They have everything from Abalone to Zander and they deliver right to your door in a timely manner. Shell fish. Sea food. All Sashimi grade. I have never been disappointed, as Todd says, best fish ever. One of these days I am going to get me some red snapper. I first tried that at my in-laws years ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. Watch this space!
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