Nigella's Chicken... one to warm you up in this big freeze!

Another Nigella recipe... Can you tell I'm a huge fan yet?
I made this Chicken last Sunday as it started to snow and I felt under the weather, it's a real hearty nutritious dinner and is perfect in this chill! I know that in a couple of weeks, everyone will be thinking about Turkey or Goose for their Christmas lunch so this is a recipe to cook in the weekends before or after. If you're looking for a new stock pot (to cook this in), try Costco, they have a hugee one for about £30! A real bargain. If you have some left over, it turns into a good soup!

Ingredients - (Serves 6)
1 large chicken
2tsp garlic oil
100ml white wine 
4 leeks, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 7cm logs
4 carrots, peeled and cut into logs
1-2 sticks celery, sliced
2 litres cold water
1 bouquet garni
A few sprigs of parsley (Optional - I hate parsley so left it out)
2 tsps Salt
A few really good grindings of pepper or add pink peppercorns
To serve - mustard


Get out a large, flame-safe cooking pot (with a lid) so the chicken can fit snugly.
On a washable board, un-truss the chicken and put it breast-side down and press until the breastbone cracks (trust me, it's not as bad as it sounds) and then press down again to flatten it. Then cut off the ankle joints with kitchen scissors (keep them).
Put the oil in the pan to heat, then brown the chicken breast-side down and turn up the heat and turn over the chicken, tossing the feet in. Still over a high heat, add the wine to the pan and let it bubble before adding leeks, celery and carrots.
Pour in enough cold water to cover the chicken but leave the very top poking out, put the bouquet garni in and the parsley if using. The chicken should be almost completely submerged by now, if not add some more cold water until it is just about covered.

Bring to the boil and then clamp on the lid, turn the heat right down and leave to cook for 1 1/2- 2hours. I gave it 1 hour 40 mins then left it to stand with the heat off but lid still on for the last 20mins.
Then carve the chicken, it should be so tender that it falls straight off the bone and serve the chicken with the vegetables and brown basmati rice, adding a ladleful or two of liquid over each shallow bowl, as you go.
Then serve with more black pepper and the mustard. 






N.B My parents wanted theirs with potatoes and this works well too, I also cooked up some cabbage to have on the side and added peas into the broth.
Also, if you have some left over (we seemed to have loads), you can make some soup out of it in the following days.


< A good meal for the cold weather, this is a photo from a snowy walk I had with my puppy in the week.

I love Christmas!

Does anybody else find Christmas magical and enchanting? Carols being played, lights, decorations and the smell of cinnamon mixed with pine from the Christmas tree.


I've always wanted to make a Christmas Gingerbread House, they look so good and last for months. But it's finding the time! With January exams, Christmas parties and lots of baking for gifts to do, I think I'd better give it a miss this year. But if anybody makes one and finds an easy recipe, please let me know for next year!
Meanwhile, I'll stick to admiring the ones in the shops, these > were in the Selfridges food hall (a.k.a Mecca).


All is not lost though, I'll be posting some Christmas cupcake, cookie and fudge recipes in the next couple of weeks!


Happy Baking and Christmas Shopping!

p.s this is a photo of the outside of my parents house all lit up! Getting the tree tomorrow!

Toffee and Apple Sauce Muffins

The cookbook's photo

While I should have been revising... I got distracted with my new cookbook again - Home Bake by Eric Lanlard. I saw a recipe for toffee and apple sauce muffins and seeing as I'd just bought a huge tub of apple sauce, it seemed like a good idea. I don't know if they've come out as well as I'd hoped they would, they look a bit different to the ones in the book (see photos later) but they taste really good so I guess that's the main thing! Yours will probably come out better, let me know if they do!

Makes 12 large muffins


For the apple sauce (if making it or use a shop variety) - 300g brambley apples (about 1 large), 100g soft light brown sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2tsp Calvados (optional)






For the muffins - 275g plan flour
100g caster sugar
1tbsp baking powder
75g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
125ml milk
100g home made or bought fudge, chopped into small chunks
2 tbsp cinnamon sugar (2tbsp soft light brown sugar mixed with 1/4tsp cinnamon)
Icing sugar, for dusting


To make the apple sauce, peel and core the apples and cut into small cubes. Place the diced apple in a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon, Calvado and 1tsp water. Cook over a low heat until the apples are tended but not mushy, leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200c/180 fan and line a muffin tin with muffin cases
Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl

How mine turned out. Not bad but not the best.

Beat the butter and eggs together then add milk. Stir this mix into the flour along with the fudge, until just incorporated. Don't overstir, it's fine if it's a bit lumpy.
Spoon half the mixture into the muffin cases then spoon over 2/3 apple sauce. Cover with the remaining batter and with a small spoon, make a swirl of apple sauce in the top and dust with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake in the oven for 20-25mins. Cool on a wire rack. Serve dusted with icing sugar. 

Scones!

Had some friends over last weekend so baked some scones to have with jam!
I used a Mary Berry recipe - 
(Makes 12 scones)
225g Self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g butter
25g caster sugar
1 egg
Milk


Pre-heat the oven to 220c. Lightly grease 2 baking trays
Measure the flour and baking powder into a bowl, then add the butter and rub in with the fingertips until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
Break the egg into a measuring jug then make up to 150ml with milk. Stir the egg and milk into the flour - you may not need it all - and mix to a soft but not sticky dough. (I added some raisins and chocolate chips at this point) Turn out on to a lightly floured work surface, knead lightly and then roll to a thickness of 1cm.
Cut into rounds with a fluted 5cm cutter and place them on the prepared baking trays. Brush the tops with a little extra milk or any egg and milk left in the jug and bake for about 10mins until they are a pale golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and eat them as fresh as possible. (Note - if you have some left over the next day, microwave them for a few seconds to revive them).

Proper Italian Pasta Sauce and Fresh Pasta.

When my Great Auntie Jean was alive, she used to make the most incredible pasta sauce. And then one day, while looking through Jamie Oliver's website I saw a basic tomato and basil sauce that I decided to make, when I went to eat it with lots of parmesan and black pepper it reminded me of my Aunt's incredible sauce!! So now for a quick and easy but delicious dinner I knock up some of this sauce and serve it with some fresh tagliatelle and grate lots of parmesan and add soo much blackpepper!

This picture isn't the best but seriously make this pasta and you won't regret it!!

The sauce goes like this (for 2 people) -
1 Red onion
A couple of cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Fresh basil 
A tin of tomato purée
A tin of chopped tomatoes


Fry a red onion in some olive oil and add some finely chopped garlic,
While the heat is still high add the basil into the oil so that it blackens and spits a bit
Then add the puree and let it sweeten for a couple of minutes, you may need to turn the heat down
Then add the chopped tomatoes and reduce the heat, adding more basil.
Cook for as long, or as little as you like. It tastes great in about 10minutes but you could reduce it more.


Then serve with the fresh pasta (I like green or multigrain tagliatelle) but add some of the pasta's cooking water to the sauce to loosen it a little. ADD PARMESAN AND BLACK PEPPER! Sometimes I serve with some asparagus spears on the side. 




If you want to make fresh pasta (I've tried it a couple of times, and yeah it tastes great, you get a great sense of achievement that you've actually made the pasta, but to be honest Sainsbury's fresh stuff is just as good so don't feel you have to) - then use Jamie's recipe.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/a-basic-recipe-for-fresh-egg-pasta

Some other thrifty Christmas gift ideas...

Continuing the thrifty gift ideas from the macaroons, here's some other things I'm making:

Jars of sweets - 

I got some Kilner jars from Dunelm for something like £1.79 each and brought a variety of sweets to fill them with! I've seen jars like this in Selfridges for £15!! They look really lovely.

Since this photo was taken, my boyfriend has made some mini polaroid photos to tie around them as labels. 

Sweets used - Liquorice all-sorts, Marshmallows, Chocolate Buttons, Flying Saucers and Moams! 

Lavender Bath Salts -

Using the Kilner Jars I also made some bath salts for ladies in the family.

I got a salt mix from ebay which includes epsom salts, sea salt and bicarbonate of soda. 

Use 2 cups epsom to 1 cup sea salt and 1/2 cup bicarb and then add some dried lavender (my boyfriend had an abundance cut back from his garden) and essence of lavender.

I then tied the jars with a purple ribbon and made a tag out of brown luggage-style labels attaching a sprig of lavender! A perfect, thrifty gift! And it makes your muscles feel amazing after a hot bath.

Macaroons!

I've decided to make lots of home-made gifts this Christmas and thought that macaroons would look pretty stacked in cellophane bags and tied with ribbon. So I did a trial batch a couple of weeks ago in case the recipe was rubbish - so hopefully they'll turn out well when I make them the week before Christmas!

I looked for days trying to find the perfect macaroon recipe, some seem harder than others, some you have to leave for a day in the fridge etc etc so in the end I found one in a new cookbook - Home Bake by Eric Lanlard (which is so totally brilliant as well as pretty) and they turned out really well! The recipe was also incredibly easy, don't be scared! I coloured them pink using food colouring (see note in recipe) and filled half with chocolate buttercream and the others with jam to see what would be best. I've now decided for the Christmas ones, I will do 2 types - some chocolate with chocolate buttercream and some pink with jam for colour variation in the bags. Although I'm not sure how long they'll keep, I might have to make them on Christmas Eve! - Also stay tuned for the Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge I'm making for pressies too!

Anyway, the recipe is as follows -

(Makes 28 double macaroons)

100g ground almonds

100g icing sugar

90g egg whites (from 3 large eggs)

100g caster sugar

(For Chocolate macaroons add 15g pure cocoa powder, sifted)

Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar together in a bowl to produce a fine powder (I had to put them in a processor)

In a large bowl, using an electric hand whisk, whisk the wgg whites at full speed until they start to thicken then very slowly add the sugar until they form stiff peaks.

Fold the almond mixture into the egg white, along with your chosen flavouring and/or colouring (note - to make them pink, add more colouring than you think as it pales when cooking. I've heard the food colouring paste is best but I couldn't find it in Waitrose or Sainsburys so just added pink food colouring liquid), using a large metal spoon. You will get a stiff, shiny and smooth mixture.

Using a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain tube, pipe 3cm discs onto a baking paper lined baking sheet. Leave for 5-10mins so they can dry out a little, while preheating the oven to 150c (fan 130).

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15mins.

As soon as they come out the oven, lift the baking paper and pour a bit of cold water in between the sheet and paper. The steam will help to remove them easily. Cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled, sandwich the mcaroons together with jam/buttercream/ganache/lemon curd etc!

Et voila!