CHRISTMAS DAY 02#

Roaring fire, wrapping paper on the floor, little children running around and plenty of fizz. Yep it had to be Christmas Day ( even if it is one day late! ) To some this may have been Boxing Day, but here we'd pushed Christmas Day back and were celebrating it in full force! 

The fizz of the day was Gusbourne an English Sparkling wine that was recently mentioned on a BBC programme The Twelve Drinks of Christmas. Having never had an English 'fizz' before I jumped at grabbing a bottle or two when I saw them at Selfridges. It really is delicious and I would buy it again. A hit with the family too!

Mum got back into her element today and created an astonishing 3 course feast! The main event was a Beef Wellington! I haven't had Beef Wellington for years, so I was incredibly excited about having it on our "Christmas Day".

After a glass of bubbles it was time for prepping the Beef Wellington. John was at hand with stringing the meat before it was wrapped in puff pastry that had been spread with mum's home made chicken pate and sauté mushrooms. There is a version of my mum's pate here on the blog - FIELD MUSHROOM & FARMHOUSE PATE.

John and Lou are both both trained cordon bleu chefs and know their way around prepping meat. Which John showed his skills on one of my previous posts HERE.

But today he showed us how to string the fillet beef before searing it.

Little Josh took mum and I for a walk run to work off our delicious meal!

We returned back home, and like any other classic Christmas Day, we sat around the fire and had one of mum's mince pies with a slice of red cheshire. Trust me you have to try a mince pie or Christmas cake with red cheshire, it's delicious and I believe it stems from my mum's Lancashire roots. She informs you also have a chunk red cheshire at the side of apple pie (not crumble) with cream on top! I haven't taken it that far before which now my mum is desperate to rectify!

Merry Christmas hope you all had a great festive break! 

CHICKEN SHAWARMA SANDWICHES

This Sunday Ben took to the kitchen to create this superb lunch! We were so impressed with previous recipes by Ottolenghi that we had to try another one!

RECIPE
* "Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches" by Yotam Ottolengh

Chicken, marinade and bread:

2½ tbsp lemon juice
3 small garlic cloves, crushed
20g fresh ginger, finely grated
¼ tsp ground turmeric
¾ tsp sweet paprika
1½ tsp ground cumin
¾ tbsp sumac
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¾ tsp ras el hanout;
8 chicken thighs, boneless, skin on (800g net weight)
90ml olive oil
25g chopped coriander, stems and leaves
4 large flatbreads such as pita or naan
Salt and black pepper

Red onion and cucumber salsa

Red onion and cucumber salsa:
1 red onion, thinly sliced (100g net)
½ a large cucumber, thinly sliced (180g)
20g chopped dill, plus extra to garnish
4 tsp sumac
4 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp olive oil

Tahini sauce

Tahini sauce:
2½ tbsp lemon juice
100g tahini
15g parsley, roughly chopped, plus extra to garnish
1 small garlic clove, crushed

Zhoug

Zhoug:
35g coriander, roughly chopped
20g parsley, roughly chopped
3 green chillies, des-seeded and roughly chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cardamom
A pinch of caster sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil 

METHOD

1. First make the marinade. Combine the lemon juice, garlic and ginger in a large bowl. Dry-fry the spices on medium heat until their aroma is released and then add these to the bowl, along with 1 teaspoon of salt and ¾ teaspoon of black pepper. Pat dry the chicken pieces and place them in the marinade along with 5 tablespoons of the olive oil and the fresh coriander. Massage the mixture into the chicken well, cover the bowl and leave in the fridge to marinade for 2 to 3 hours, or overnight.
2.  Place all the ingredients for the salsa in a small bowl, along with ¼ teaspoon of salt. Mix well and set aside.
3.  Put all the ingredients for the tahini sauce in a food processor adding a 90ml of water and a pinch of salt and blitz until completely smooth with the consistency of honey. Add a little more water if it is too thick to pour.
4.  Place all the ingredients for the zhoug in a small food processor bowl and add 2 tablespoons of water and a ¼ teaspoon of salt. Blitz in a few pulses to get a coarse paste; make sure not to over mix.
5.  Preheat the oven to 180C.
6.  Place a large ridged griddle pan on high heat. Once red hot, cook the chicken pieces for 3 minutes on each side until nice and brown. Transfer to an oven tray to cook the meat through in the oven; about 6 minutes. Allow to rest for a few minutes before cutting the chicken into 1 centimetre thick slices. Any remaining juices from the pan can be drizzled over the meat.
7.  Wipe off most of the residues from the griddle pan and add the remaining tablespoon olive oil. Drizzle the flatbreads with a little water, just to moisten on the outside, and place in the pan for about a minute on each side, to warm up. Lay out each pita sheet and spoon over some tahini sauce. Place some chicken pieces on top of this, followed by the salsa and 1 tablespoon per serving of the zhoug. Finish with a sprinkle of parsley and dill, roll the pita together and serve at once. 

SUMMER CORIANDER & MINT ROAST CHICKEN

 This recipe is perfect for the hot weather we have been experiencing lately. Light, zesty and incredibly tasty. It is also delicious to eat cold a few day later, so perfect to make on a Sunday and use the remaining meat for work lunch boxes or easy evening meals.

RECIPE 

*Adapted recipe from "Chicken Lemon cumin and Mint" Epicurious | May 2002 | Lori Longbotham

2kg Whole Chicken *preferably free-range

A good handful of fresh mint leaves

A good handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves & stalks *leaves for serving

Zest & juice of 2 lemons

2 Garlic cloves crushed & minced

1 tsp Ground cumin

1 tsp Paprika *preferably hot

1/4 tsp course salt

freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

METHOD

1. In a food processor or wizzer, combine the coriander, mint, lemon zest & juice, garlic, cumin, paprika and seasoning. Blend together whilst slowly pouring in the olive oil, until it starts becoming more of a rough paste pulp.
2. Place the chicken on a large baking tray *one that will fit in your fridge. Take your marinade and spread all over, loosening the skin on the breast of the chicken and spread under the skin and  underneath the chicken too. Making sure you get it round the legs and wings. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or over night. I prepped this a day before so ended up marinading for 24 hours. 
3. Preheat the oven to 200° FAN. Let the chicken stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
4. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes at 200° before reducing the temperature down to 180°. Cook for another 65 minutes and base the chicken half way through, making sure it doesn't dry out.
5. Once cooked cover with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
6. Pour the juices from the pan into a jug, skimming off the fat from the top. Carve the chicken and serve a drizzle of the juices over the meat with marinated courgette salad, herby cous cous.

 *Any leftover cold meat also works perfectly in a salad with the leftover orange saffron puree made from the Saffron orange salad recipe, bean sprouts, chilli, peeled courgette and lots of fresh coriander leaves.

MINT PEA HOUMOUS // SAFFRON CHICKEN SALAD

I grew up understanding the importance of a Sunday Lunch. It wasn't the fact you were having a roast dinner, but the fact it was the one day in the week where the family would all sit together to eat. It is so easy to get wrapped up in day to day life, hectic schedules and social media that the 'here and now' seems insignificant. However the 'here and now' is all we have. Sit, take your time and eat rather rushing to consume food before hitting the next task. But the most important part is that you end up talking to one another.

Last week I made a simple Sunday lunch for Ben and his parents. The sun has been out in full force recently and rather than cooking a hot heavy rich roast dinner I thought a light summer zesty menu would fit the bill a lot better.

MINT PEA HOUMOUS
This was a last minute addition to the menu. I only decided to do this an hour before the Pickett's arrived. It's definitely an adapted recipe as I had to work with what was in the fridge and there was no fresh broad beans! Fortunately we already had a lovely fresh loaf of sourdough.

RECIPE 

*Adapted recipe from "Incredible smashed peas & broad beans on toast " Jamie oliver

450g Frozen peas, defrosted and drained.

1/2 Red onion, finely chopped

1 Garlic clove, peeled and crushed.

1 small bunch of fresh mint leaves

Juice of 1 lime

115g yogurt

50g Finely grated parmesan plus extra for serving

2 tbsp Extra virgin Oil *Highly recommend reasonably priced Sainsbury's Kalamata Extra Virgin Oil PDO £5.50

Freshly ground pepper and salt.

4 Slices of Sourdough bread, toasted & halved.

METHOD

1. Put the peas, onion, garlic, mint, lime juice, grated parmesan, yogurt olive oil and seasoning into a blender and whizz up. *I got a little carried away with the blender and think in retrospect that it would've been better to have it slightly courser with perhaps a few peas smashed by hand and then mixed through.
2. Chill the houmous in the fridge for a bit before serving.
3. Toast the sourdough and put a dollop of the houmous on the toast. With a peeler, peel a slither of parmesan place on top and fishing with a drizzle of olive oil, lime juice, fresh pepper and a mint leaf.

 

SAFFRON CHICKEN SALAD

I have recently got myself Ottolenghi's PLENTY recipe book. Now that I'm slowly gathering a library full of cookbooks I am made a decision to try to use recipes from the books I already have,  however I did get this recipe from his other cookbook 'jerusalem' which I haven't yet added to the collection. This was delicious recipe and I would do it again in a heartbeat! 

RECIPE

*Adapted recipe from "Saffron chicken and herb salad " Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi

1 Orange

50g Honey

1 tsp saffron threads

1 tbsp White wine vinegar

300ml Water

700g Chicken breast

4 tbsp Olive oil

2 Small fennel bulbs, thinly sliced *Try using a mandolin as long you don't cut your finger off!?

15g Fresh coriander leaves

15g Basil leaves

15g Mint leaves

100g Rocket

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 Red chilled, thinly sliced

1 Garlic clove, crushed

Salt and pepper.

METHOD

1. Heat the oven to 180°C. Trim and discard 1cm off the top and tail of the orange and cut it into 12 wedges, keeping the skin on but picking out any pips. Place the wedges in a small saucepan along with the honey, saffron, vinegar and just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for about an hour. At the end, you should be left with soft orange pieces and about three tablespoons of thick syrup; add water during the cooking, if needed. Use a food processor to blitz the orange (skin and all) and syrup into a smooth, runny paste; again, add water if needed.
2. Rub the chicken breasts with half the olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper, and place on a very hot ridged griddle pan. Sear for about two minutes on each side, to get clear char marks all over. Transfer to a roasting tray and roast for 15-20 minutes, until just cooked.
3. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, but still warm, break it up with your hands into quite large pieces. Put these in a large bowl, pour over half the orange paste and stir. *The remaining orange syrup will keep in the fridge for a few days, and makes a good addition to a herb salsa to serve with oily fish.
4. Add the remaining ingredients to the salad, including the rest of the oil, and toss gently. Taste, add salt and pepper and, if needed, some more olive oil and lemon juice.