Roast chicken

Roast Free-Range Chicken

There's nothing better than a roast chicken, but there are some tricks to bringing out the flavour.
I always buy a free-range chicken, as the flavour cannot be beaten and there are no nasty antibiotics or steroids fed to them.

Ingredients

1 free-range chicken
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
1/2 bulb of garlic
1 lemon
Maldon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven Gas 5. Put the chicken in a roasting tray and pop a couple of the garlic cloves into the cavity of the chicken. Drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle over the mixed herbs, some salt and ground black pepper, massage into the chicken. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice of half of the lemon over the chicken and pop the other half into the cavity of the chicken.
Pop the remaining garlic cloves under the chicken.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours (20 mins per lb plus 20 mins) is my normal timings. Baste every 20 minutes.

Serve with roast potatoes and veg.

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Courgette, Caper and Chilli Pasta

When we need a quick lunch, pasta is always our "go to". It was time to raid the fridge for veggie, then time for me to get creative.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1/2 pack of gluten free macaroni

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 courgette, cut lengthwise in half, then each piece again lengthwise. Chop across into 1 cm chunks

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 large tomatoes roughly chopped

2 tsp capers

2 pinches ancho chilli flakes

Zest 1/2 lemon

Water

4 stems fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Method

Put a large pot of water onto boil and add salt. Add pasta when boiling and cook according to the packet. Make the sauce whilst the pasta is cooking.

In a sauté pan over a medium heat, fry the onion until soft, add the courgette and garlic, fry for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped tomatoes, capers, lemon zest and chilli flakes, stir and lower heat to a simmer, stir occasionally. Remove the leaves from the basil, chop the stems and add the stems to the sauté pan and stir. Season with salt and pepper. You can add a splash of water if needed, if the pan seems dry.

Carefully cut the basil leaves into a rough large chop, add to the sauce, stir and turn off heat.

Check pasta is cooked, drain, reserving some of the cooking liquor. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir the pasta into the sauce, turn back on heat to allow the pasta to absorb the flavours, add a little of the cooking liquor to help the sauce get absorbed into the pasta.

Serve with a sprig of basil.

You can also sprinkle over some fresh Parmesan to serve. I also added a couple of drops of chilli oil over mine as I like the heat.

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Time to start my adventure with Fermented Foods

Why fermented foods?

There has been much talk about probiotics and gut health as a way for us to prevent infection and build a stronger immune system. I was prescribed probiotics by my doctor after a very nasty gastric bug. There are many ways to get probiotics and the most natural way is through fermented foods and drink.

How to start?

I bought a "fermenter" from Happy Kombucha, a great company where you can buy everything from sourdough starters, to Kefir granules, apple cider vinegar with the mother.

Quoted from their blog:-

Fermented Vegetables: Simple, Delicious and Rich in Probiotics!

"Fermentation can also add nutritional value to whatever you ferment. The bacteria produce B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and digestive enzymes not present before fermentation. During fermentation, good bacteria also helps predigest all the vitamins and nutrients in the vegetables themselves, making them more bioavailable to the body. The health payoff of this nutrient boost can be huge."

Tutorials and recipes

I've also discovered a fabulous blogger/youtuber, Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone who has a magical way of sharing her cooking tips, plus much more including how to sew. Going back to traditional ways such as cooking from scratch, renovating their farmhouse, creating a "handmade home". I've been watching her YouTube videos today on fermenting, so have put some cucumbers that arrived in my Riverford box this week, in my fermenter.

I'm also intrigued by the Instant Pot that I've been seeing pop-up on my feeds whilst surfing, a safe pressure cooker that may be much easier for my mum to use, so I've watch those videos today too.

My journey has begun, I can try after day 3 to see if sour enough, perhaps leave a little longer. I'm planning on buying some jalepenos chillis to ferment them, then it's time for sauerkraut which I absolutely love.

Ingredient supplier

The next thing to make after the basics is some Kimchi, but that will need a couple more ingredients, before I can make a batch.
Last time I bought my ingredients from Sous Chef, they have an amazing variety of ingredients, they also do a Kimchi Kit, which has everything you will need including the jar. It tastes so much better when it is freshly made.

Once the fermenting is underway, I've got a bowl of plums to turn into something scrummy, some jam, chutney and maybe some plum sauce. Preserving is great fun and fills the kitchen with amazing aromas, unless its chutney, which I cook when my husband isn't around, he can't stand the strong vinegary smell.

Roll on the season of mellow fruitfulness, I love it.

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Sourdough, the journey begins

Why Sourdough?

I've been fascinated about Sourdough for ages, loving the taste, but not actually making my own, I decided it was time to do some research.
I discovered the amazing book by Vanessa Kimbell and downloaded the Kindle version. This isn't just a recipe book, but a full introduction to working with sourdough plus the science behind it. I'm especially interested due to the gluten/wheat intolerance that happens in so many of my students.
The health impact of sourdough is incredible, there's so much to read.
Looking to find a sourdough starter, the BakeryBits website had a huge range of baking equipment including bannetons (the baskets used to prove the dough in) and also sourdough starters.
My order arrived on Friday, just in time for the weekend and gave me the opportunity to start refreshing my starter and making my first loaves.
I was amazed at the different method used to make the loaves. Much longer due to working with the sourdough starter, but also how the water is incorporated as the dough is folded.
It's also great, that after making the loaves, you can leave them proving in the fridge until you are ready to bake them.
My timings were slightly out this first time and I struggled to get the lame (cutting blade) to slice the top of my finished loaf, but I'm really pleased with my first attempt.
I've got a second loaf still in the fridge in a normal bread tin, so will bake that tomorrow to take to my parents.
Time to order a second banneton so that both can be sat in the fridge ready for baking.

This was the result of my first baking, it tastes amazing and I can't wait to start my second batch on Friday night, ready for a Saturday baking session.
The sourdough starter has been named Noah by hubby, it is the French starter from the Sourdough School and comes with a jar to keep it in and comes with flour and recipe cards.
There is so much you can do with the starter, time to look for recipes that use sourdough, my team at college need to be prepared for some different treats other than cupcakes and cakes.
If you have tried any great recipes and are willing to share, I'd be extremely grateful.

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Tapas style Crevettes (Jumbo prawns) with Tomato and Lemon

We love a bargain, especially when you find amazing produce in the reduced section of the supermarket. Today was one of those days, hubby came back with a massive bag of cooked crevettes that should have been over £7 reduced to £2, a perfect ingredient for lunch. After shelling them, I was left with at least 20 jumbo prawns to cook, I also had 1/3 of a gluten-free tiger loaf left.

I wanted to cook something that had some sauce to mop up with the crusty bread.

Tip - A quick way to freshen the bread is to pop it in an oven Gas 6 for about 10 minutes, this will warm it through and give it a lovely crust, so I did this once I started cooking the prawns.

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
large prawns
juice 1/2 lemon
1 large tomato, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
salt and black pepper

Method

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat, add the shallots, garlic and chilli and gently fry until soft (about 3 minutes). Add the smoked paprika and prawns, fry stirring often for about 2 minutes, add the lemon juice and tomato, season with freshly ground salt and pepper and continue cooking, frequently stirring (3 mins). Taste and adjust seasoning. Sprinkle over the parsley, stir well and serve with chunks of crusty bread.

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Cauliflower, feta and sweet corn fritters

When you want a veggie lunch and can’t think what to cook, delve in the fridge and see what appears.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 small tin sweetcorn

2 large cauliflower florets

2 spring onions, finely sliced

1/2 pack feta

1 egg

100g self raising flour 

Milk

Ground black pepper

Olive oil

Method

Put the flour in a bowl, add the egg and milk and whisk until smooth. Chop the cauliflower into small pieces (same size as the sweet corn),  chop the feta into similar sized pieces. Add the sweetcorn, cauliflower, spring onions and feta to the batter, season with pepper (you don't need any salt due to the feta). Mix all the ingredients together.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add enough olive oil to cover the base. Drop large spoonfuls into the pan, spreading slightly. Cook until they start to show the odd bubble and flip over. Cook until golden brown.
You may want to cook one first, and test the seasoning.

I served with a salad and some chilli sauce.

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