Summery Chicken Pot Roast

Don't you just love a dish that you can prepare well in advance and just leave to tick over for a few hours knowing you'll have something splendid to serve when you're ready. Well here's just the thing. Pot roast Chicken. Get all your veg ready, place in the bottom of the pot, place the chicken on top and slowly roast until you're ready.... Here's what I used but you can use whatever vegetables you have t hand that would go well with chicken.

Ingredients to serve 6

a 3 to 4lb prepared chicken

2 celery hearts cut into quarters lengthwise

2 large onions sliced thinly &

sauteed until tender but not brown.

6 medium carrots cut across into large chunks

1 whole garlic bulb....top cut across but kept in one piece

24 or so small new potatoes

18 or so small tomatoes added towards the end of cooking 

1 pt of well seasoned chicken stock  preferably homemade

4oz pancetta or chopped smoked bacon.....optional

Parsley stems chopped...4 or 5

Lots of fresh Thyme ....stems removed

2/3 Bay leaves

Freshly ground black pepper & sea salt to taste.  

Parsley & fresh Thyme to decorate

Method.

Add a little olive oil to a pan and brown the chicken, turning a bit at a time.

Meanwhile, gather together all the veg & herbs and place at the base of a large ovenproof dish or cast iron dish as I did  

Mix around and pour over the stock

Place the chicken on top.

Cover and cook at 200c for around 30 mins........turn down to 150c

Sprinkle the pancetta on top, add the tomatoes, replace the lid and continue cooking for at least an hour and a half .  Just turn it down lower if you're not ready to serve but baste well in between

Remove the chicken.... cover with foil and let it rest before carving for 10 mins or so

Squeeze out the flesh from the garlic into the remaining juices

Make sure the veg is tender.....if necessary thicken the sauce with a little slaked cornflour

Carve the chicken....place the veg onto the warmed plates and spoon over the sauce     

Italian Bean Soup

           

                                                 

                                                       Italian Bean Soup


A wonderful warming, filling and yet healthy soup including lots of store cupboard or fridge ingredients you're bound to have at hand. This is as low fat as I could make it.

I had a good turn out of my kitchen cupboards this week due to redecorating... I know I had far too many cans in one cupboard, in fact 4 cans of barlotti beans and several green lentils and goodness knows how many cans of tinned tomatoes...arghh a great excuse to use some up I thought.  Well, this soup recipe makes enough to serve at least 6 healthy portions as long as you have a reasonable supply of vegetables at hand,  I added some herbs and parmesan shavings from the fridge for an extemely pleasant lunch for all.

Now what do I do with 3 cans of Black Cherries...wait for the next thrilling instalment


Here's how I made it

Ingredients:-

100g/3oz pancetta (or smoked bacon) sliced or cubed...  Completely optional if you are vegetarian use 1tbsp olive oil instead.
1 large onion diced
1 large carrot diced
2 sticks of celery diced
few leaves of tuscan kale or1/4 of a pointed cabbage... Sweetheart or Hispi thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 bay leaves (remove on serving)
tsp dried thyme
1 heaped tsp paprika
2 400g/13oz tins of Barlotti beans or similar variety
1 400g/13oz tin green lentils
1  400g/ 13oz tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsps tomato puree
2 stock cubes chicken or vegetable
Parmesan shavings
3 tins of water (using the chopped tomato can)
2 tsps salt
1 heaped tsp black pepper
A little chopped parsley or basil to serve

Heat a large saucepan (no oil) and add the pancetta/bacon or the olive oil if your a vegetarian
Cook the pancetta for a couple of minutes then add the onion, celery and carrot. Sweat for around 5 minutes on a low heat.
Add the garlic , tomato puree, smoked paprika, thyme & bay leaves...add a lid to the pan a sweat further until the veg starts to soften,
Now add the canned tomatoes, rinse the out the can adding the water to the pan plus another 2 cans of water....add the stockcubes, salt and pepper.

Cook on until everything is tender.
Now add the drained beans & lentils.
When this comes back to the boil add the cabbage.
Cook for around 8 minutes until the cabbage is al-dente
Check the seasoning and serve adding a little chopped parsley/basil and some Parmesan shavings
Serve into warm bowls whilst hot and serve with some crusty bread

Mini Cottage Pies with Duchess Potatoes

                                          Mini Cottage Pies with Duchesse Potatoes


I'm always looking for ideas to serve for picnics,  afternoon teas and canapé parties.  These little mini cottage pies certainly fit the bill. I made these the size of mince pies but  you can vary the size from one large pie to tiny canapé one bite treats. You can of course turn these into Mini Shepherd's Pies by using lamb instead of beef using exactly the same technique.

  I prefer to serve them warm and not straight from the oven ...if you can wait long enough to let them cool slightly.

A one pound of minced beef/lamb  mix should make around  24 small ( muffin sized)...  48 mini canapé sized cottage pies....or just 1 large 10" pie.


The pastry- 

 For the tart case you will need (10" loose bottomed flan tin)

200 gms / 7oz plain flour
60gms/2oz Butter
60gms/2oz Vegetable Shortening  (Trex)
pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp ice cold water to bind    

Method

The pastry 

Place the flour, shortening & butter with a little salt in a mixing bowl
Rub together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
add 2 tbsp iced water and mix together to bring together into a ball...you may need to add the other tbsp if the dough is too dry.
Flatten the dough out slightly and wrap in cling film
Refrigerate for at least 30 mins.



For the 10" Pie
Flour your work surface  and roll out the pastry to fit the greased tin with a little overhang
Line with parchment then baking beans and bake at 190c/375f/gas 5 for around 20 mins.
Remove the parchment and baking beans and put back in the oven until the pastry is golden brown and the base cooked through.
Trim the pastry overhand with a sharp knife

For the small pie you will need a 12 hole muffin tray
Using a 3½"/9cm  round cutter, cut out 24 pastry rings
Place these into your greased muffin tin
Scrumple up a large piece of baking parchment and push the paper down into each well of the tray
Fill each well with baking beans 
Bake blind as above

For the  tiny canapé pies  use a 2½" /6.5cm round cutter and cut out 48 pastry rings to fit a small holed canapé tray  
Bake blind as above

For the filling:-

1lb/ 500g Lean Minced Beef
2 tsps oil 
1 large onion finely diced
2 sticks of celery finely diced
1 large carrot finely diced
1 dessertspoon Worcester Sauce
1 dessertspoon tomato puree
½tsp dried thyme
½ pt beef stock
2/3 teaspoons cornflour slaked in cold water
1 tsp salt...or to taste
Black pepper to taste

Method:-

Heat a frying pan
Add 1tsp the oil and fry the mince until starting to brown,  place the meat into a saucepan
Now gently sweat the onion, celery & carrot in the frying pan using the other spoonful of oil to cook them in until tender
Place the vegetables in the pan with the meat adding everything else except the cornflour.
Simmer for around an hour...thicken with the cornflour.  the mix should be very thick...add a little more cornflour if it's too runny.

The Duchess Potatoes:-

1½- 2lbs  750gms/1Kg floury potatoes...I used King Edwards
salt
white pepper
2 egg yolks
a little hot milk 

Method:-

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.
Completely drain them...pop back in the pan. Place the lid back on
Leave for around 5/10minutes
Thoroughly mash them 
Add a little hot milk and the egg yolks and beat it all together quickly so that the egg yolk doesn't start to cook.
Season well with salt & white pepper
The mash should be of piping consistency..if it's too stiff add a little more hot milk
You will need to let the potato cool enough to be able to handle it


To Finish:

Fill the pastry cases 2/3rds full with the meat mixture
Then pipe swirls of potato on top as in my photograph
Bake in a hot oven until the potato starts to turn golden brown 
This should take around  8-10 minutes

Leave to cool slightly and serve.