Spiced Chicken and broth

I love combining different cuisines to give exciting twists to old favourite recipes. This dish is an amalgamation between the French countryside chicken I've had in so many bistros in France, and the subtly spicy flavours used in so many of the Moroccan dishes I had in Marrakech.

Ingredients (2 people)

Chicken: whole chicken (mine wasn't a very large chicken), 1/2 lemon, 4 cloves garlic, 2tsp ground coriander, 1tsp sea salt, 1tbsp olive oil. 

Broth: 2 leeks, 1 courgette, 2 handfuls baby spinach, 1tbsp unsalted butter, 1tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1tsp ground coriander, 3 cloves garlic finely chopped, 1 cup chicken stock.

Chicken: pre heat the oven to 180 Celsius. Bash the garlic cloves with the heel of your hand to split them slightly (skins on) and put in to the cavity of the chicken along with the lemon half. Rub olive oil over the outside of the chicken, sprinkle with salt and ground coriander and place in a roasting tin in the oven for 60 minutes, spooning some of it's juices over the chicken half way through. 

To check if it's cooked after the hour, insert a knife between the leg and breast, if the juices run clear it's cooked, if not pop back in the oven for a further 10 minutes and check again. 

Lift the cooked chicken on to a resting dish, cover with tinfoil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Reserve any pan juices from the chicken for the broth (see below)

Once rested use a knife to gently ease away the breasts and legs from the chicken so they are in separate portions. 

Broth: clean the leeks by splitting in half and washing thoroughly to remove any grit, then thinly slice. Half the courgette, discarding the ends and cut into 5mm slices. 

Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the leeks on a gentle heat until they start to soften. Next add the courgettes and garlic and cover, stirring often, for 6 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and coriander and cook for 2 minutes more. 

Tip any of the juice which has come out of the resting chicken back in to the chickens roasting tin juices, tilt the tin and use a spoon to remove and surface fat (which will be clear), you only want to reserve the brown juices underneath. Add these pan juices to the leek mix, along with the additional cup of chicken stock. Take the lemon out of the chickens cavity and squeeze any juices in to the leek mixture. Bring to a simmer, add the spinach and cover until the spinach has wilted down. Stir through to combine. 

To serve spoon the broth in to shallow bowls and place the chicken pieces on top. 

 

Treacle tart

Treacle tart is a quintessentially English dessert which has been knocking around since the late 1800's in various forms and is one of my childhood favourites. It is unbelievably sweet and hideous for ones waistline, however a little indulgence once in a while never hurt anyone!

Ingredients

Case: 10oz plain flour, 5oz cold unsalted butter, splash cold water. 

Filling: 450g golden syrup, 100g fresh breadcrumbs (white or brown), 1 finely grated lemon zest, juice half a lemon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp sea salt.

Pastry: using your fingertips quickly rub the butter in to the flour until it forms a crumb like texture. Use just enough cold water to bind it together to form a dough, knead briefly, however, do not overwork or it may become tough once baked.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat your oven to 180 celcius.  Butter a 9 inch pie dish, gently roll the pastry until it is large enough to cover the dish. Ease the pastry in to the dish ensuring you do not stretch it (as it shrinks back when cooking). Prick the base with a fork, trim the excess, and blind bake (just the case on its own) for 10 minutes. 

Filling: mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl stirring well to combine. 

Once the pastry case has been baking for 10 minutes, pour in the filling mixture and bake for a further 30 minutes. 

Leave to cool to room temperature and serve with ice cream or cream. 

Sunday comfort

The most decedent of all pasta dishes has to be those swathed in lucious creamy sauces, such as the velvety pear and Gorgonzola tortellini I had in Florence which was soft and luxurious. 

The most comforting of the creamy pasta dishes has to be Macaroni Cheese, made famous by the Americans and beloved all over the globe. 

Today, it's Sunday, I'm tired and it's raining, so good old mac n'cheese is the only thing which will sate me whilst I snuggle on the sofa with a blanket and a movie. This one has a Spanish twist with the addition of fiery chorizo sausage. 

Ingredients (serves 6)

Sauce: 2tbsp plain flour, 1.5 pint milk, 1/2 grated nutmeg, 2 cubic inch grated strong cheddar and 2 cubic inch Red Leicester cheese, 1/2tsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp chilli seeds, 2tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. 

Macaroni pasta (per pack instructions for 6 people) cooked in boiling water until tender. 1 ring of chorizo sausage cut in to pieces. 

Topping: 2 slices white bread finely chopped or processed to crumbs, 1tsp thyme, 2 tbsp grated cheddar cheese. 

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat, add the flour, stir to a paste and cook for a few seconds. Very gradually add the milk bit by bit, stirring after each addition until the lumps have gone. Keep stirring once all the milk is combined until it comes to a simmer, and cook for a further minute. 

Add the nutmeg, garlic, chilli and cheeses and stir until the cheese melts. Take off the heat and season to taste.

Cook the chorizo in a frying pan until golden and it has released some of it's red fats in to the pan. 

Tip the cooked macaroni in to a deep oven proof dish, pour over the sauce and the chorizo and pan juices and gently stir through. 

Mix the breadcrumbs, cheese and thyme together and sprinkle on top of the pasta. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 25 minutes, until golden and bubbling. 

Simple salad

My favourite summer salad takes just minutes to throw together, yet looks and tastes sophisticated enough for guests. It can be served in smaller portions as a starter, or larger as a main course with perhaps some crusty ciabatta bread. 

Put a handful of rocket on a plate, cut an avacado in half and using a teaspoon scoop out little rounds of the flesh to scatter over the rocket. Next crumble over some semi-soft goats cheese, scatter with a few broken walnut pieces and tear some smoked salmon over the top. 

Sometimes I don't dress this at all, there are so many textures and flavours going on you don't really need dressing. However if you do like to dress, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar does the trick. 

Tea and cake

Sunday brings tea and cake at Le Chandelier on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich http://www.lechandelier.co.uk

Gorgeous rosebud tea and an excellent red velvet cake which was light as a feather and packed with cream cheese icing. Lunch looked excellent here too, I saw some beautiful, generous looking salads coming out of the kitchen and so I'll definitely be back to try those at some point. 

They also informed me they will be opening later for dinner soon too, and I bet it will be super romantic and cosy for an evening date! 

Brixton village

We wandered down to Brixton Village in London yesterday for a bite to eat, if you have never been it's definitely worth a visit! http://brixtonmarket.net/brixton-village/

A cornucopia of cuisines from all over the world, it's loud and buzzy and the sights and scents are smashed together to make one deliciously electric atmosphere!

We finally settled on Fish Wings & Tings for fiery hot and spicy chicken wings with pineapple relish washed down with rum and ginger. Quite honestly one of the most delicious things I've eaten in London in ages, next time I go I'll be certainly asking the chef if he will share this recipe with me, although something tells me this family secret will be kept under lock and key!

This summer I'll definitely be trying my hand at jerk chicken for the BBQ, so watch this space!

Ibiza and Italy culinary tour

We recently travelled to Ibiza in Spain, the famous “white Isle”, for 12 days of partying combined with a friend’s stunning rural farmhouse wedding, followed by a week in Italy to visit beautiful Florence and Umbria for my brother-in-laws wedding in the ancient Montone village. Two weddings, two countries and seven pounds heavier and we are home, filled with inspiration from two of the culinary giants of Europe.

We ate and drank very well indeed. I never get the Spanish eating so late and going to bed with full stomachs, it’s not the healthiest way to dine, however after 3 days I got in to the swing of it. I forced myself to try alternative Spanish dishes instead of the usual chorizo and tapas and I discovered a fresher and lighter cuisine that compliments Ibiza’s laid back beach culture. The highlights being incredibly creamy burrata mozzarella in a creamy pesto sauce with beetroot marmalade,  deliciously light tuna tartar with strawberries and a wasabi dressing, and snails cooked in smoky BBQ sauce which was so invitingly light and totally different from the garlic buttered French style escargot.

This brings me on to Florence and Umbria which was the culinary polar opposite from the fresh costal cuisine of Ibiza. Bold and luscious pasta dishes, antipasti of cured meats and cheeses and rich red wines were finished off with scoops of gelato in a multitude of flavours. 

The dish that blew me away the most was tortellini pasta filled with soft sweet pear and served with a rich and salty gorgonzola cheese sauce scattered with toasted pine nuts, it was devilish and incredible and I will definitely give it a whirl at home sometime. The wedding banquet at my brother-in-laws wedding was so fantastic I doubt I’ll see food at a wedding like that in my lifetime again, the antipasti alone consisted of a table with chefs preparing fresh food from scratch, including mascarpone filled courgette flowers, prunes wrapped in bacon and fried in duck fat and rocket and mint smoothies.

No wonder I have put on so much weight, however it was totally worth it, and I cannot wait to share some of my dishes that this trip has inspired. Hopefully you will enjoy making some of them too.