Moroccan Roast Chicken

Pin It Now!

What do you do when you are sent a beautiful, plump, has-had-a-good-life Organic Free Range Chicken and you live on your own? Well, of course you roast it and invite your friends round to eat it.

The lovely people at Abel & Cole offered for me to try one of their whole chickens. There was no way I was going to keep all that joy to myself. Even if I had wanted to I would have struggled, as it was a nearly 5lb beauty of a beast. As much as I love roast chicken leftovers, I didn't really fancy eating them every day for a week.

This meant that last night E, JM, B and L came round for roast chicken dinner. I woke up in the morning feeling like trying something slightly different and not just going for the usual Lemon Roast Chicken or Rosemary and Garlic Roast Chicken. Looking for recipes I found one for Moroccan Roast Chicken that sounded pretty good and I planned the menu from there. We ended up having the chicken with chickpea couscous and a carrot and fennel salad, followed by a completely un-Moroccan rhubarb crumble.



I'll share the other recipes later, but for now here's the recipe for the chicken with my adaptions and changes. The instructions and ingredients seem quite long, but it is really easy and everyone enjoyed it.

Moroccan Roast Chicken

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
one whole chicken, at room temperature
1 lemon
1 onion, quartered
8 garlic cloves
12 pitted dates, cut in half
12 dried apricots, quartered
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 tbsp harissa paste

Preheat your oven to 190C.

Mix the soft butter with the cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne and cinnamon and season with salt and pepper.

Clean your chicken, inside and out under running water and pat it dry with kitchen towel.

Carefully slide your hands between the skin and the meat on the breast side and top of the legs and rub in half of the spice butter. Rub the other half all over the skin.

Cut the lemon in half and place it inside the cavity.

Set the chicken breast-side-up on a rack in a roasting pan, which is also suitable for use on the stove top.

Place the onion, garlic cloves, dates and dried apricots into a roasting pan and add 1/2 cup of water.

Place the chicken breast side up on a rack into the roasting pan and place in the oven. Your chicken will need 20 minutes per lb plus an extra 20 minutes.

After about half an hour turn your chicken over carefully and baste with the juices that are collecting in the pan.

Leave for about another half hour before turning and basting again, at this point you should also add another 1/2 cup of water.

Continue to roast, basting once more, until completely cooked and the juices run clear when you insert a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh.

Remove from oven and drain any juices that might be caught in the cavity into the pan.

Set the chicken aside and leave to rest for about 10-15 minutes, cover with tin foil to keep warm.

Remove the rack from the pan and spoon off the fat or use a gravy separator to make it even easier.

Set the pan over high heat on the stove top, add the stock and harissa and cook, scraping up any browned bits. If you like you can add a little cornflour/water paste to thicken the gravy.

Carve the chicken and serve with the chunky gravy.

Pesto Genovese

Pin It Now!

Fresh pasta and pesto is one of those meals that I always default to when I get home late from work or on those days when I don't really feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. It's quick, simple and good and I usually have all the ingredients around.

Traditionally it would me made with a pestle and mortar, smashing the basil leave little by little, but most time I just use my stick blender. It doesn't make the pesto quite as smooth as doing it by hand, but it's quicker and I actually like a slightly grainier pesto just as much.

What is your quick mid-week dinner of choice?



Pesto Genovese (makes enough for 6-8 people)

1 large basil plant, leaves only
25g pine kernels
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp granular sea salt
50g freshly grated Parmesan
100-200ml extra virgin olive oil

Wash the basil leaves and dry them in a salad spinner.

Toast your pine kernels in a dry frying pan for 2-3 minutes, until golden.

If you're using a mortar, pound the garlic with the salt until you have a smooth paste.

Add the pine nuts and keep pounding.

Then start adding the basil leaves, 2-3 at a time and keep mashing until all is reduced to a silky paste. If you want you can freeze the mixture at this point.

Add the cheese, stir and then add the oil and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth, silky pesto. The amount of oil you adds depends on your preference of texture.

Alternatively place all ingredients in a container and blend with your stick blender until you reach the preferred consistency.

Mix into hot pasta and serve straight away.

You can pour any leftover pesto into a clean jar, top with a layer of olive oil, cover tightly and keep it in your fridge for up to a week.

Herb Bread

Pin It Now!

My friend Lucy is off on another artist residency. This time it's not the remote Shetland Islands, but an equally remote spot in rural Ireland and it involves bread baking. So she came round yesterday morning for a skill sharing exercise in making bread.

If you've never made your own bread, please give it a go. Yes, it does take a bit of time with all the proofing and rising, but it is so worth it. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to pull a hot, fragrant, golden loaf from the oven. To me it's a little bit like magic every time and from Lucy's enthusiasm I deduced that it was the same for her.



To befit the occasion properly I got out a soup and bread cookbook I bought in Ireland last summer and from it I chose the recipe for Herb Bread to make. So why not bake bread today or as Mrs Doyle would say 'go on, go on, aaahhh go on'.



Herb Bread (1 small loaf)

450g/4 cups plain flour
300ml/1 1/4 cup warm milk and water (mixed)
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
8-10 fresh sage leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
1tsp sugar

Measure the flour into a large bowl.

Mix in the salt, herbs and fennel seeds.

Make a well in the middle and pour in the warm liquid.

Add the yeast and the sugar and stir into the liquid. It's fine that some of the flour gets mixed in as well.

Cover with a clean tea towel and place in a warm place to proof.

Check after about 15 minutes. The yeast should now have frothed up.

Start drawing the dry flour into the yeast and liquid, until it's all combined and you have a dough that is no longer particularly sticky. You might need to add a little more flour.

Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed for about 3-5 minutes, finally form into ball.

Wipe out the bowl and pour a little oil into it, before returning the dough back into it. Turn so it is covered with a light film of oil on all sides.

Cover again with the tea towel and place in a warm place. Leave to rise until double in size. It should take about 1 hour.

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface again and knock the air out of the dough by kneeding a little.

Shape into a high round ball and place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Make three shallow incisions across the top and do the same in the opposite direction.

Leave for another 20 minutes or so to recover some volume.

Bake in a preheated oven at 230C/Gas 8 for about 15 minutes then reduce heat to 200C/Gas 6 and bake for another 30 minutes.

The loaf is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Sweetheart Cabbage with Lemon and Pinenuts

Pin It Now!

My friends E and JM have recently moved into the flat downstairs. It's great to have such lovely neighbours for a change. The complete opposite to the guy next door who goes out of his way not to say hello. They had been send some Jamon from Spain and were kind enough to share the joy of it by bringing it along for dinner 'upstairs'. We had some of it just as it was and wrapped some around some steamed green asparagus. Simple perfection.



If you read my last post you'll also know that I got a sweetheart cabbage in my veg box and wasn't all that sure what to do with it. Thanks for your suggestions. I also started looking on the net for ideas and found a very simple recipe which sounded good to me and which I thought might go well alongside the asparagus and jamon. The basis of the recipe is pretty good and the cabbage and pinenuts work really well but I'd reduce the lemon juice to half a lemon as I found the flavour to be a bit overpowering. Nevertheless, here's the original recipe as found on the Grow Wild website. Try it for yourself and see how much lemon juice you like in there!



Sweetheart Cabbage

1 sweetheart cabbage (shredded)
a handful of pine nuts
Olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

Steam your cabbage for about 6-8 minutes.

In the meantime toast the pine nuts on a dry pan until light brown. You need to watch them and keep them moving to avoid them burning.

Put about half of the toasted pine nuts in a pestle and mortar and coarsely crush them.

Drain the cabbage, pour over a good swig of olive oil, add the pine nuts (both crushed and whole), the lemon juice and season with black pepper.

There's a first for everything

Pin It Now!

For a long time now I have been thinking about ordering an Organic veg box, but for some reason or other I never did. I always thought I'd never get through all the contents before they go off, that I wouldn't like not choosing my own fruit and veg from the shop, some of the stuff might not be all that fresh and that they are too expensive. Well, I was given the opportunity to finally try one and have to say I was so wrong.

Today my first Organic veg box from Abel & Cole arrived on my doorstep and all the reasons that always put me off in the past went straight out of the window. There isn't really any more fruit and veg than I would buy in a normal week anyways, I'm quite excited to find some things that I wouldn't normally buy *, all the produce is wonderfully fresh and you can even smell that it's gonna taste great and it doesn't really cost anymore than buying my veg at the store either.



I was excited to open the box and see what it contained: 5 apples, 6 oranges, 5 bananas, a bag of mushrooms, a punnet of cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, green lettuce, a sweetheart cabbage, a bag of radishes and potatoes. All lovely, fresh, colourful, untreated and sourced from British farms (apart from the Fairtrade bananas which of course didn't grow in Britain).




* Even though I have eaten and enjoyed sweetheart or pointed cabbage in the past, I have never bought and cooked it myself before. Does anybody have a great recipe suggestion for me?

Caramel Crumble Cinnamon Loaf Cake

Pin It Now!

Sounds like a good cake, doesn't it? But I should call it Looks Like It's Been Dropped Cake or Caramel Crumble Car Crash Cake. Nevertheless, I thought that I can't always just write about the successes in my kitchen and cover up the near misses, disasters and casualties. And actually there isn't really anything wrong with the flavour of cake, it's just the fact that half of it stuck in the pan and a bit of the caramel crumble top broke off as well.

That all would have also been only half as bad if the cake had been for me. As some of you will know I'm the resident birthday cake baker at work though, and this was the cake I made for A's birthday. As I didn't have enough ingredients, time or patience to start all over again, I just patched it up and stuck a candle in it. After all, it's the thought that counts, isn't it?!

I have to say that all of us did enjoy it despite it's wonky appearance. The flavours are good and it's nice and moist. I'll probably make it again, I'll just make sure that I'll line the pan next time and don't just rely on greasing it. Next time I'll also take a picture with a proper camera, not just with my phone and I will post the recipe with my own instructions that will hopefully be a little easier to understand. For now you can find the recipe here.

Sweet & Sour Roasted Onions

Pin It Now!

Time still seems to be flying by. When does it stop?

Don't get me wrong, I like being busy but at this rate it'll be winter before I know it. I went to Germany last weekend to spend some lovely time with my family and friends, thanks to being able to get a return flight ticket for £20.00. This weekend I'll be catching up with some friends in Yorkshire so there won't be much cooking in my kitchen again.

But, before I go away again I thought I'd quickly share this Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall recipe, which was published in the Guardian Weekend quite a while ago. I love onions, especially slow cooked or roasted as it brings out their natural sweetness. This makes a great side dish to go with any meat or fish.




Sweet & Sour Roasted Onions (serves 4)

1 lb small red onion or shallots, peeled and cut in halve
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 stick celery, finely chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tablespoon concentrated tomato puree (paste in the US)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 190°C/Gas 5.

Put your onions in one layer into an oven dish.

Line the dish with baking paper, as the sauce will caramelise, which otherwise would make it quite a pain to clean.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the celery over medium heat until soft, for about 5 minutes. If you're not using any celery, just start with the next step, but shorten the frying time to two minutes. (I never use the celery as it isn't on my list of favourite vegetables.)

Add the garlic and sauté for a further five minutes.

Remove from the heat and add all the other ingredients, apart from the onions and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Season liberally with salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the onions.

Mix well until all the onions are coated evenly.

Place in your oven and roast for about one hour, stirring once halfway through.

The onions are done, when they are soft and caramelised, start checking after 45 minutes. The time depends a bit on their size.

Summer Berry Lemon Drizzle Cake

Pin It Now!

Another occasion, another cake.

My friend N. retired a few weeks ago and since the leaving dos at work are usually quite a stiff affair, he decided he much rather wanted to have a picnic on a beach in Wales with all his friends. So yesterday we filled up quite a few cars with people and food and headed for Anglesey.

I think I can safely say that a wonderful time was had by all. What else is to be expected from a day full of sun, sand, sea, food and friends! Even though generally sand and food don't always mix that well, but only a few slices of smoked salmon and a couple of sausage rolls fell victim as far as I know.

I took a Summer Berry Lemon Drizzle Cake along for the picnic. The recipe comes from my Avoca Tea Time cookbook. I bought the book last year whilst on holiday in Ireland after sampling some of the fantastic cakes in the Avoca Cafes. Just like everything I had tried in the tea rooms, this cake was delicious and went down really well with everyone who tried it.

Summer Berry Lemon Drizzle Cake

225gr unsalted butter, softened
225gr caster sugar
4 medium eggs, beaten
225gr self-raising flour
1/2tsp baking powder
35gr ground almonds
juice of and finely grated zest of 1 lemon
225gr mixed summer berries

juice of and finely grated zest of 3 lemons
175gr caster sugar

200gr summer berries (optional)

Preheat your oven to 150C/Gas 2.

Grease and line a 23cm springform pan. (Mine is 25cm and worked fine.)

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until it becomes pale in colour.

Then slowly add the eggs bit by bit and continue to beat until well combined.

With a wooden spoon gradually fold in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder.

Fold in the juice and zest of 1 lemon and finally half of the berries.

Spoon the batter into the prepared springform pan and spread it out evenly.

Top with the other half of the berries and bake for about an hour in your preheated oven. Mine took about an hour and ten minutes until the inserted wooden skewer came out clean.

Remove from the pan and place on a wire rack.

While the cake is still hot, warm the sugar with the zest and juice of three lemons in a sauce pan, stirring until the sugar disolves.

Prick the cake in several places with a wooden skewer and pour the hot sugar/lemon syrup over the warm cake. Don't forget to put some tin foil underneath your wire rack when you do this. It makes the cleaning up much easier as otherwise you'll have loads of sticky syrup on your table or worktop.

When the cake is cool top it with some extra summer berries (optional) and serve.