Posts Tagged ‘chicken’
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Now, everyone knows that I love to make my own curry spice mixtures, my masalas, and even my own pastes, but time does not always afford me such a luxury, to be honest. So I normally keep around some basic commercially produced pastes for when I am in a rush. I dont go for very complicated ones, but just the basic, starter for ten pastes that I can then add to. In this recipe I started with some Pataks Mild Curry paste – a pretty straightforward mix.
I am a great believer in cooking curries in a wok or frying pan, especially chicken. The modern chicken (unlike the old boilers) is a very tender affair and does not appreciate being cooked to death – again. Cooking in a frying pan is faster and kinder to the dear bird!
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Friday, April 15th, 2011
Okay, this is to show you can do it with chicken packs too!
Right, street parties are about mass catering, but so often they consist of a load of sandwiches made from pappy bread, some bridge roles and rather tame chicken drumsticks – well, not at this feast!
I have already covered doing bread, now lets move onto chicken. Part of the trick of catering is not to do a thousand dishes, but do just a handful really, really well. And for something like this they should be easy. Like the bread recipe, you will need some volunteers for this one – mostly so you have use of lots of ovens. It is a really basic recipe – whole chickens or chicken pieces roasted with orange juice and butter to give a nice juicy dish. So, here we go:
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Thursday, April 7th, 2011
There are several things I would like to have. A professional range (and for that matter a professional gas supply), stainless steel counters, really amazing ventilation and Lurcio*. Two of the things I would like are rather similar, but not quite. One is a wood fired oven for bread and pizzas and the other is a Tandoor, because I really, really like very good quality chicken and bread cooked in a tandoor with loads of herbs and spices. Sadly, I cant see any of this appearing as birthday prezzies in the near future, so I will have to make do. Today, I knocked up some Tandoori-ish chicken and some flat bread – not Naans, but along those lines. Okay, pen and paper at the ready?
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
A busy weekend indeed, this last one. Our lawn was wrecked over winter by a combination of long lying snow and the boots of builders as they repaired out roof. So, I decided to assault the lack of greenness with buckets of determination. We have only a small garden with two large trees so we suffer from shade (actually rather nice as we neither get too cold nor too hot.) So I have reduced the beds and have sown a leafy lawn that is apparently great for shaded areas.
To celebrate my hard work I cleared out the barbecue, ran out to buy some new charcoal and dug out a nice free range chicken and half and English lamb leg. What a way to get the season started. So, what did I do to the meat?
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Friday, March 18th, 2011
I have been meaning to write this up for ages as I keep getting asked about boning a chicken. Chicken is a popular food in our household, but I rather like to stick to Free range, both for ethical and taste reasons. But free range chicken is more expensive than other chicken, there is no doubt about that. However, a medium sized Free Range chicken, properly boned, will give nearly the same amount of meat as a packet of 4 intensively farmed chicken breasts – and it is actually only a pound or so more in price. And you get the succulent red meat as well.
Right, what ever chicken you use, this is how to bone it. To be honest, once you get up to speed it takes only about 10 minutes and your get a better product. I have broken this up into stages to make it easier!
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Friday, March 4th, 2011
Garlic bread adds something to the chicken
It is very easy, sometimes, to be overly complicated and forget that even very simple dishes, cooked right can be delicious and satisfying. Cooking dinner every day I occasionally remember this philosophy and do something that I have not cooked for ages. Today was a prime example.
A free range chicken was lurking behind a pot of yoghurt in the fridge and the plan was to something peri-peri-ish with it, or tandoori-ish, perhaps, bung it in the oven and serve it with a tomato salad. However, with sudden, unexpected sneakiness, the idea of cooking it up with mushroom rushed into my head with such devastating results that I had picked up the chicken and de boned it before I even had time to think – and why not?
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Now, everyone knows that I love to make my own curry spice mixtures, my masalas, and even my own pastes, but time does not always afford me such a luxury, to be honest. So I normally keep around some basic commercially produced pastes for when I am in a rush. I dont go for very complicated ones, but just the basic, starter for ten pastes that I can then add to. In this recipe I started with some Pataks Mild Curry paste – a pretty straightforward mix.
