Recipe for quick chicken, broccoli and yacon stir fry
One of the highlights of the veg growing year is the harvest of purple or white sprouting broccoli. OK they take a long time to mature – the plantlets go into the soil in early July and they are harvested from March the following year. But the flavour is wonderfully sweet – totally unlike the PSB available at great expense in the shops, which can be a bit bitter. This stir fry took advantage of the sprouting broccoli from our allotment. It also uses chicken left over from the Sunday roast and of course yacon from last year’s harvest. If...
read moreRecipe for delicious and easy chicken and ham risotto
We eat a lot of risotto in the cottage. It’s a great way of padding out small leftovers of meat and totally vegetarian risottos are great too – all that creamy rice with just a little bite is gorgeous. Generally I am the one who makes it. Danny tried it once using some duck fat that he found lurking in the bottom of the fridge. I’m not sure how old that fat was but it tasted like something from Tutankhamen’s tomb. I strongly suspect that he did this accidentally on purpose. He’s never been asked to attempt the dish again. In fact...
read moreRecipe for chicken, mushroom and tomato risotto
I’m not very keen on the combination of chicken and cooked tomatoes. Would never have chicken on a pizza. But I had half a tin of tomatoes left over from our favourite sausage and bean dish and thought that I’d bung them into a chicken risotto as an experiment. Risottos are so easy to make and are a great way of using up scraps that are knocking about in the fridge. The result was really tasty and good. Danny was amazed – I hadn’t told him about the experiment just passed him his plate of food and slipped nervously into the kitchen as...
read moreUpdate on the chicken wings post
Ooops! I made a vast mistake on my chicken wings post. I blame the fact that I’ve been immersed in my new activity of painting on silk. No this is not 17th century style miniatures of Danny and The Min Pins, beautifully exercised with teeny tiny brush strokes. Rather this is me having primary school fun. Splish splosh daub. If you buy the neutral, washoutable gutta, you can control the soakability of the silk. Suddenly it was like using the Magic Painting Books that I loved as a child. But I’d created these designs myself. Armed with a...
read moreChicken wings can provide both meat and amazing stock
We can’t buy chicken wings in the Newmarket Waitrose. Some people think that wings are a waste of time. Even my mum says “They have so little meat on them. The other day I was given two at a lunch party. We were all scraping about politely for the meat.” I agree with the Min Pins – I like chicken wings. Danny does great wings on the Kettle barbecue with hickory chips (lid on). Crisp and smokey tasty. Unbelievably good. A few weeks ago I wondered why Waitrose didn’t sell chicken wings and came up with a possible answer. They must use...
read moreEasy tasty whole roast chicken with mandarin, lemon and garlic recipe
If I was only allowed one type of meat for the weekly Sunday roast for the rest of my life, I would have to choose chicken. Roast chicken is so versatile and adaptable. I never tire of cooking and guzzling it. And of course it’s a great excuse to make bread sauce and play a bit with the trimmings. Depending on the ammount of mouths to feed – you can pad it out with a good stuffing, chipolatas and even Yorkshire puddings. This week I decided to experiment and roast ours with lemon, mandarin, garlic and a sprinkle of *savory. I...
read moreChicken legs baked with apricots and garlic recipe
I was surprised to hear that despite the recession the number of people eating out has shot up in the UK. I’m not sure whether this is people visiting places like Pret for a snack or proper sit down eating out with napkins, main courses and hovering waiters. Danny and I rarely eat out. Perhaps twice a year at most. It’s not that it’s expensive (although 35 quid for pizzas and a couple of beers was shocking) it’s because it’s often disappointing in this neck of the woods. So good food has to be cooked at home. Two things that...
read moreChicken and green tomato risotto recipe
For years I thought that risottos were hard to make. I’d order them in restaurants and drool over the creamy rice with bite. I reckoned to cook the rice like that would take real skill. Oh how wrong I was. Risottos are easy. It would take ‘real skill’ to ruin the rice. Risottos are the ultimate comfort fast food. We eat a lot of risotto throughout the year. They are a delicious way of padding out very little meat. Even Danny, the King of Carnivores adores them. Completely vegetarian risottos are delicious and I don’t think that it...
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