BBQ'd Piri-Piri Chicken
I made all of the sauce, but only cooked half of the chicken since it was just me after all, a quarter for dinner and the other quarter for lunch the next day. Even though I have a charcoal BBQ, I don’t have a rotisserie so I just turned it once in a while with some corn and a sweet potato next to it. A little bit of bacon didn’t hurt either!
It’s damn tastier, and healthier than Oprorto and that’s saying something coming from me.
Charcoal chicken
with piri piri
sauce
1 whole chicken
Marinade: 8 cloves garlic, crushed Pinch salt Juice of 2
lemons 1 tsp bay leaf powder 2 tsp paprika 2 shots scotch whisky
(80mls) 2 tbsp very soft butter 1 whole chicken Rock salt Piri
Piri Sauce: 10 – 12 birdseye chillies, chopped finely (medium
size, medium heat) Pinch salt Juice of ½ lemon 100mls olive oil 2
tbsp garlic powder (not crushed garlic as the mixture will be too
runny) Mix all ingredients into a thickish dipping sauce.
Mix all ingredients for marinade together. Prepare chicken – trim
away excess fat. Then use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to cut
the chicken through the breastbone. Open out, turn over and flatten
by pressing down with your hand along the backbone. Make a small
cut under each wing to help it flatten further. Make several
incisions in the flesh with a sharp knife. This will allow the
flesh to absorb the marinade and allow fat to drain. Prick all over
with a large fork. Brush both sides with the marinade and sprinkle
with rock salt. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 – 45
minutes. Cook over a charcoal BBQ (or any hot grill if you don’t
have a BBQ) turning frequently and basting continuously with the
remaining marinade until both sides are golden brown –
approximately 30 minutes. Cut the chicken into pieces with kitchen
scissors and brush with Piri Piri sauce.
Chickens with Pockets
So when I had some bacon, camembert and a chicken breast handy a chicken paupiette was called forth.
Chicken Paupiette of Bacon and
Camembert
Chicken stuffed with Bacon and Camembert -
Serves 2
2 Chicken breasts
4 Rashers of bacon
250g of Camembert, sliced
Salad leaves to serve
Slice a pocket into the thickest parts of the chicken breasts
trying to make each pocket as big as possible but not to cutting
through to the other side. Lightly hammer out the chicken to as
thin as possible without breaking apart the chicken.
Stuff the pocket with half of the cheese and a rasher of bacon then
slowly pan fry until the chicken is cooked through and browned on
the outside along side the two spare rashers of bacon.
Slice the chicken in half and lay over salad leaves with the extra
pieces of bacon.
An Adventure on the Korean Peninsula
Dak Busut Jim (Braised Chicken and
Mushrooms) and Oyi Namul (Cucumber Salad)
Every meal is served with rice and one
or more small side dishes that can be used to add variety to the
taste and texture of the main course, especially the ubiquitous
kimchi which is style of
pickling vegetables that includes a fermentation process and
usually starts with a base of cabbage. As you’d expect for a
national dish, every region and every grandmother has their own
recipe. If you can’t wait the several weeks it takes to make, good
asian supermarkets sell fresh kimchi in the chilled foods section.
If you can only find the commercial version in a jar, you might
want to skip it unless someone can recommend one to me?
Unlike Japanese food that tends to take 1 teaspoon of a dozen
ingredients that you’ll never use again and are only sold by the
kilo, the only thing I was missing from my cupboard for tonight’s
meal were bamboo shoots that you can pick fresh at good asian
supermarkets or either canned and vacuum packed, all for around
$1.
The braised chicken and mushroom was great with the black pepper
being the surprise front runner and the chinese mushrooms giving a
good mix in texture. The cucumber salad had a nice refreshing but
not overpowering sourness that was needed against the strong
flavours of the chicken, but with some cayenne pepper, keeping a
spicy note.
Dak Busut Jim - Serves 4-6
(Braised chicken and mushrooms)
10 dried mushrooms
1 x 1kg chicken
3 Tablespoon light soy
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper of chili powder
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 white onion, in 8th and layers separated
125g bamboo shoots, sliced thinly
4 spring onions, sliced, including greens
2 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Cooked white rice to serve
Soak mushrooms in boiling water for 30 minutes then remove stalks,
slice and return to soaking water.
Cut chicken into joints then into small bite sized pieces,
including the bones, place in a bowl. Add in the soy, sesame oil,
garlic, cayenne and black pepper. Mix together and marinade for 30
minutes.
In a wok, add the drained chicken (keep the marinade) and fry until
brown. Add the mushrooms, the soaking liquid and the reserved
chicken marinade. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the remaining
ingredients and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with toasted sesame
seeds.
Oyi Namul - Serves 6
(Cucumber Salad)
2 large green cucumbers
3 teaspoons coarse salt
1 Cup of water
2 Tablespoons mild vinegar (eg: rice)
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 spring onion, sliced
3 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
Peel (if desired) and as thinly as possible, slice the cucumber and
put into a bowl with the salt and water. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Drain off all of the water then add all of the remaining
ingredients, combine well and serve chilled.
Mills Reef Winery
Mills Reef is hardly a stable but if the attitude of the staff on the restaurant is anything to go by then jebus himself was born here and it was our privilege to be on sacred ground but more on that in a minute. Going along Moffat Road and seeing the grounds appear before you is impressive with manicured lawns and rows of trees all leading up to the main building and it's own formal gardens but this is a working site. All of the processing, bottling and distribution happen here even though all of the grapes are bought and shipped from the not so far away Hawks Bay.
As you walk up from the car park the first door on the left is the tasting room so we went there first. As a tip for those visiting a winery with it's own restaurant, here's a good place to try a sip of a few things before you try and match them to your lunch and give you a chance to mull over which bottles you pick up.
Mills Reef Winery, 143 Moffat Road,
Bethlahem New Zealand
In the tasting room we met Ken, the cellar manager who ever so
patiently walked my family through not only their range but the
tasting process (lightest and brightest to heaviest and darkest).
From what I could tell all of the prices for the wine were quite
reasonable where as the souvenirs had souvenir prices.
After a few uhms and ahs we took a price list and headed for the
empty restaurant. There was a choice of the outdoor terrace or
inside a dining/function room. The enormous main dining room was
having the air-conditioning replaced before summer. Not to worry
because ir was spring after all and we chose a table on the terrace
in the shade. Just like everyone else did but being outside the
noise wasn't an issue and the tables were well spaced anyway. After
the stop-off in the tasting room I picked my entrée and main based
on their recommended wines and everyone else chose the recommended
glass. I wanted to see how they stood up to good quality food and
thankfully what came out of the kitchen was great. Luckily I was
really only interest in their red wine because the restaurants fish
order hadn't arrived to meet the demand of their predominantly fish
based menu.
Going around the table my mother had their seafood trio and the
Pinot Gris, a slight alteration due to the lack of fish she had a
king prawn, scallops and a piece of salmon; my brother had the
oysters and my aunt had the bread and dukka which surprised me. For
such a simple sounding entrée the chef added a bit of flair
throwing in a couple of different types of cibatta and more than
just a simple dukka, there was some great avocado oil, tapenade and
homemade pesto too. I had the chicken liver paté with truffles
crostini and the Cab Melot, or at least that's what I ordered.
Instead I got garlic crostini that worked very well and I wouldn't
have had any complaints if only I hadn't ordered truffles. That and
if I didn't have to wait 10 minutes and actually need to get up
from by seat, walk through a construction site and find the wait
staff and ask them for our wine. Even though there were a few
people in the restaurant by that stage I find it hard to believe a
winery restaurant forgot to bring the wine.
Seafood Trio - Prawn, Salmon and
Scallop
Cibatta with Dukka, Avocado Oil, Tapenade and Pesto
Chicken Liver and Cognac Paté and Fig Jam with Garlic
Crostini
Main course ran smoother, Mum had the strawberry and asparagus
salad with Kaimai Brie and a glass of
the Sav Blanc which was tasty and exploration in vegetarian texture
more than flavour, my brother had two giant lamb shanks that were
cut above the knee and were so tender the meat would have literally
fallen off the bone if he'd picked it up washed down with the Cab
Sav. The meat was good quality lamb but seemed a little bland on
it's own and relied in the jus to carry it. Mind you I only picked
at his leftovers, so the most of the meat could have been fine. My
Aunts Cajun chicken Caesar salad was generous, well seasoned. I had
the lamb fillet that was cooked to a perfect pink with a blue
cheese and pear salad with a walderberry jus, much like my
favourite duck salad. The lamb itself seemed under seasoned but
balanced out with some cracked pepper and the jus. The Merlot
Malbec was a perfect match.
Asparagus, Strawberry, Avocado and
Kaimai Brie
Warm Lamb Fillet, Watercress and Baby Spinach Salad with Pear,
Cashew, Kikorangi Blue and Walderberry Syrup
Lamb Shanks Braised with Wholegrain Mustard on Green Pea and Potato
Mash
Dessert. Only mother and I had dessert, her with the mandarin and
cinnamon spring rolls which looked delicious and I had the 'ode to
the lemon' which was a set of three lemon desserts starting with a
lemon curd in a bitter chocolate case the size of a patty-pan, a
lemon cremé brûlée in an espresso cup and a scoop of lemon ice
cream in a parfait glass. All of which matched brilliantly in their
own way to the riesling ice wine. If only it was delivered with the
course. As the waitress walked off I called out "um, and our wine?"
She flicked her nose up and walked off in acknowledgement. I
waited. I waited. Again I got up and asked for my wine yet again.
The excuse was they were waiting for the others coffee to be made
before they bought out all of the drinks. Pity my ice cream had
melted and my crem brule was cold by the time it arrived.
The location, food and wine at Mills Reef are nothing to complain
about but the attitude and service of the restaurant wait staff
really left more a lot to be desired.
Nectarine and Honey Spring Rolls
rolled in Cinnamon Sugar served with Blueberry Syrup and Vanilla
Ice Cream
Burnt Lemon Curd, Lemon Crem Brule and Lemon Ice
Cream
The Daily Grind @ The Peppermill Cafe
Peppermill Café, Milsons
Point
At a recent contract I went out myself and failed miserably picking
the Kirribilli Village Café and Restaurant. I tried their steak
sandwich and it was just awful, chewy, tasteless and very
overpriced. $25 off for the sandwich and a coffee. That’s when I
asked. The team I was working with and I went around the corner to
The Peppermill Café in Milsons
Point, their coffee is a little to be desired considering it’s
Campos Coffee, but it
almost always seemed burnt but the service and food was always
pretty good.
The first day I went I was recommended their regular special, a
chicken and leek pie. Not what I expected in the presentation
department but it was tasty. An individual baking dish with mashed
potato on the bottom, a regular chicken and leek filling and a
square of golden puff pastry balanced across the top. Almost every
day since then I went to Peppermill for either lunch or breakfast,
often for both. When I had breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea, I’d
pick up a smoked salmon, ricotta and avocado croissant, the
combination of the soft buttery pastry and the oily smokiness of
the salmon was a winner.
Smoked Salmon Croissant @ Peppermill
Café, Milsons Point
They serve an all day breakfast here,
and the majority of the menu was based around breakfast but almost
as often as I’d see someone have a burger I saw someone else have
either the pancakes or french toast, both served with either bacon
and maple syrup or a mixed berry compote. Delicious stuff and well
worth a try if you want a bit of extra energy before hitting either
the Kirribilli or North Sydney Markets one weekend (I worked
weekends too). The beef burger is nice, standard fare, but the
chicken burger was the winner, chicken, bacon, avocado. Damn
tasty.
It’s also licensed and they won’t pass judgement if you have a
Bloody Mary on a Monday!
Chicken & Bacon Burger @
Peppermill Café, Milsons Point
The Peppermill Café
30 Glenn Street, Milsons Point (map)
Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am - 4pm
T: (02) 9954 1444
F: (02) 9954 1444
www.thepeppermillcafe.com.au
The Duke was Shot in the Back
Affie, as he was known by his family was so called because he was affable, easy to talk to and that sense really has been instilled at The Duke. Given it’s prime location meters away from the Enmore Theatre everyone comes here for a beer and a meal before a show ( The Presets drew me here Monday night). If you’re planning on eating get here early because the place fills up fast. On freezing cold nights like last night, the roaring open fire helps too!
I’ve been here a few times, and the place isn’t cheap but the food is good and usually pretty high quality with some very generous servings. I had the mixed grill this time around, sausages, minute steak, bacon and lamb cutlets on chips with sauce of your choice, pepper, mushroom etc, all for the princley sum (get it?) of $17.50. It is just pub food here, steaks, burgers and the good old chicken parma that a friend had, looking equally as delicious and priced.
Mixed Grill @ The Duke, Enmore
Food, 7/10 - Better
than most pubs and everything you’d expect on a classic pub menu
board
Service, 8/10 - For a pub, you can’t complain -
they were happy and friendly
Coffee, 10/10 - Because it was made with hopps and
barley and served by the pint
Value, 7/10 - Tough one, but for the location and
the generous servings it gets a couple extra points
Location, 9/10 - If you’re going to the Enmore
it’s ideal
The Duke of Edinburgh
148 Enmore Road, Enmore NSW 2042
P: 02 9519 1935
F: 02 9557 1381
W:
http://www.duke-hotel.com/
Bills Chicken Club Sammich
Bills - 359 Crown Street, Surry
Hills
Bills second restaurant in Surry Hills
opened 12 years ago and has been going strong ever since, full to
the brim from opening till the end of brunch, easing off through
the day and picking up again for dinner. It’s a great place to come
despite it’s incredibly short menu, one of the shortest in Sydney
with usually ony a dozen items to choose from, most of which are
staples that are always there such as the sweetcorn fritters with
guacamole and the chicken club sandwich, which is what I had today.
Now this isn’t your typical three tier sandwich, it’s a chibata
roll with roast tomato, baked chicken thigh, roquett and a light
spread of dijonaise. It is delicious, but for $17.50 you’d want it
to be. Don’t count on the coffee, it’s always just a little
burnt.
Club Sandwich and Herbed Fries -
Bills, 359 Crown Street, Surry HIlls
If you’re after better coffee and cheaper sweet corn fritters (also
$17.50) try Lemon Twist a little further south on Crown
Street.
WTF is a Fricassee?
Roast Chicken and Winter Vegetable Fricassee
Olivada Roast Chicken with Thyme Roasted Vegetables
Olivada Roast
Chicken
Olivada Roast Chicken with
Thyme Roast Vegetables - Serves 4-6
Olivada (can be made a day ahead)
1½ cups of kalamata olives
4 teaspoons of fresh chopped rosemary
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Chicken
1½-2kg whole organic chicken
¼ cup of melted butter or olive oil
⅓
cup dry white wine
⅔
cup chicken stock
Vegetables
1kg of mixed roasting vegetables
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme
To make the olivada, pit the olives if they aren't already (press
down on them with the back of a kitchen knife is easiest), toss
them all in a blender and wizz until you've made a paste. Stir it
halfway through if the bits are clinging to the side. If you're
making this a day or two before, put in in an air-tight bowl and
and keep in the fridge until ready. Let it come back to room
temperature before cooking otherwise it will slow the chicken
getting to a safe temperature making it dry out.
For the chicken, pre-heat your oven 200ºC. While the oven is
heating rinse the chook under cool running water and dry it out
with either paper towel, or a hairdryer (no, really). Once that's
done place the chicken on your work surface with the neck facing
you and gently slip your fingers under the skin on the breast side.
Continue rummaging around the gap between the skin and flesh like
you're looking for your keys under the couch until the skin is
separated across the breasts, legs and most of the drumsticks. Take
a small handful of the olivada and insert it in the gap made
looking for your keys. Keep doing that until you've filled the gap
or run out of olivada. Massage the chicken to spread the olives
evenly.
If by the time your oven is up to temp and your chicken is room
temperature, place it on the roasting rack in your roasting tin,
brush it with the melted butter and roast until the chicken has
reached a safe temp 85ºC which should take about an hour and a
half. Otherwise let it warm up before roasting. Add the vegetables
to the bottom of the tin about half way through.
When your chook is looking like a retiree from Miami, take it out
and place the roasting rack and the vegetables on a chopping board
or somewhere else to rest, cover with foil to keep them warm. Put
the roasting tin on the stove across two burners on medium to low
and add the wine and enough chicken stock to make 1, swirl it
around and scrape off all the sticky bits on the bottom of the pan,
simmer and reduce to about ⅔
of a cup.
Baked Chicken Sausage and Roast Potato
Baked Chicken Sausage and Roast
Potato
Baked Chicken Sausage and Roast
Potato
500g Chicken sausages
250g Baby (chat) potato, cut in half
250g Sweet potato, cut to the same size as the potato
Rosemary
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Pre-heat your oven to 200ºC, place everything in a roasting pan,
toss to coat.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Buttermilk Roast Chicken
I didn't measure anything tonight
because I really couldn't be bothered but to be I think I'd need to
add more cumin next time. Looking back, I think I played it safe
with the cumin and added 1tsp instead of 2. It needs 2. I think a
whole butterflied chicken in this marinade would be sensational,
but as Nigella said, to make everything faster for her 'Express'
book. As far as roasting the drumsticks go, I think I piled them
too closely on the oven tray so they didn't get evenly browned, I
should have turned them or out them on a rack to keep them out of
the juice collecting in the tray.
Nigella meant for this to be eaten cold at a bbq, picnic or
something like that and having them for lunch cold the next day was
great, but hot for dinner, they were good too.
Buttermilk Roast Chicken - Serves 6
12 chicken drumsticks
500mL Buttermilk
60mL vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, bruised
1 tablespoon of Peppercorns, crushed
1 tablespoon of Maldon Sea Salt
1 teaspoons fresh ground cumin (her recipe says 1, I think it needs 2)
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
Pre-heat oven to 220°C. Put everything except the chicken into a large freezer bag and mix well. Add the chicken and roll around until it's all coated. Leave for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours (no more, or the acid in the buttermilk will deteriorate the meat too far).
Roast for at least 30 minutes until everything is cooked and the chicken skin is scorched and burnt in places.
Death of a Schnitzel
Of course, all this got me thinking about food, or more precisely, got my thinking about food directed towards what I'd eat for my last supper. That and I already felt like death form having been drinking gin all night, the choice was easy. Good old fashioned comfort food. My last supper would have to be my favourite meal from childhood, my mother's chicken schnitzel either with Continental tomato pasta or mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. No, definitely the mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes... I guess the reason I have such fond memories of it is because out of the standard meals my mother made, it was the nicenesst and least often burnt. Sure she made some other exceptional meals but they were usually the more complicated or time-consuming things that we'd only see on a special occasion.
She hit on a winner one day when she ran out of breadcumbs and made her own using the left over multi-grain bread, the nuttiness of the fried grains added a nice touch. I haven't had any bread in my house for a few weeks now, so I added some LSA to the breadcrumbs instead, and of course. Another option is adding Krummies, they're pre-crushed corn flakes, and everything knows that corn and chicken go well together.
The easiest, and cleanest way to pound out a chicken breast is between two sheets of plastic wrap. It helps keep the chicken intact too in case you get a little heavy handed with the meat mallet.
Roast Chicken
I'll be making a stock with the carcas and since I'm cooking for one, I'll use the rest of the bird through the week.
Stephanie Alexander's Roast Chicken
1 1.8kg chicken
1 lemon
3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
rosemary
butter
roasting vegetables (carrot, leek, potato etc)
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Wash and dry chicken thruoroughly and rub salt inside the cavity. Insert half the lemon, garlic and herbs. Rub the body with oil and the remaining lemon salt, pepper and herbs. Cut the vebetables and coat lightly in oil and place in the bottom of the roasting tin.
Place the bird on the vegetables on it's side, roast for 20 minutes then turn back to the other side for another 20 minutes. Turn the bird again so the breast faces up and baste with pan juices. Roast for another 20 minutes.
Take the bird out of the roasting tin and allow to rest while preparing a green salad. Carve the bird as required and serve.