Orange Stuffed Chicken Marylands with 5-Spiced Carrots and Beans
Orange Stuffed Chicken Marylands with
5-Spiced Carrots and Beans
Boston Baked Beans
Boston Baked Beans - Serves 2-4
250 grams of cannellini beans
1 teaspoon of mustard powder
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 tin of tomatoes
150 grams of pork speck
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves
1 bay leaf, torn
Salt and pepper
Heat oven to 180ºC. Soak the beans overnight. In a large saucepan,
fry the onion, speck, cloves and bay leaf until the onions are
transparent. Add everything else except the beans and simmer for 10
minutes to reduce the liquid a little.
Drain the beans and add. Put a lid on the saucepan and bake for
three hours, stirring occasionally. Serve.
Squid Tubes and Crumbed Scallops
Squid Tubes and Crumbled Scallops - Serves 2
10 Scallops
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup of flour
¾ cup of breadcrumbs
1 squid tube
1 tablespoon of sumac
Sunflower oil for frying
Mustard, mayonnaise or tartar sauce to serve
Salad leaves
In three separate bowls, place the flour, egg and breadcrumbs. One at a time, roll a scallop in the flour then dip in the egg. Let the excess drip off then roll in the bread crumbs. Dip the crumbed scallop back in the egg then the breadcrumbs again. Set aside. Repeat for the remaining scallops.
For the squid, make incisions diagonally across the flesh being careful not to cut al the way through.
Fry the lot of it. The squid for 20 seconds and the scallops for about 45 seconds or until the crumbs are golden.
Serve on salad leaves with your choice of condiment.
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.
Spiced Lamb Pistachio and Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
Spiced Lamb with Pistachio and
Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
The lamb itself was tender and cooked to just pink with a brilliant
sumac based spice rub and the orange and honey in the dressing
balanced out the beetroot. A bit of cumin in the dressing tied it
in with the lamb and a bit of honey did the same for the
yoghurt.
Spiced Lamb
Pistachio - Serves 2
2 lamb back-straps
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
½ tablespoon of coriander seeds
1½ tabelspoon of cumin seeds
1½ tabelspoon of allspice
2 tabelspoon of sumac
¼ cup of shelled pistachios, crushed
Mint Yoghurt
½ cup of yoghurt
1 tabelspoon of finely sliced mint leaves
½ tabelspoon of honey
Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
1 beetroot, diced
1 potato, diced
½ cup of grated carrot
½ tabelspoon of fresh ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of orange zest
juice of 1 orange
½ tabelspoon of honey
2 handfuls of salad leaves
Starting with the beetroot salad; steam the beetroot for about an
30-45 minutes or until it’s fairly tender but still has a bit of
resistance. Add the potato and carrot and continue to steam until
all is tender and the tip of a knife has no resistance left to it.
Toss through the salad leaves and put aside until serving. Mix the
remaining salad ingredients into a bowl for the dressing.
For the mint yoghurt, mix it all together. Put aside until
serving.
Lamb. Toss the lamb, garlic and oil together and stand to marinade
for two hours. Grind and mix the spices together. Once the lamb has
marinaded for the set time, rub the spice mix all over the meat and
fry or bbq on medium-high for 5 minutes each side. Take the lamb
off the heat and wrap in foil for 8-10 minutes to rest.
Dress and plate the salad. Slice the lamb back-strap on the
diagonal and plate. Sprinkle with the pistachios and drizzle around
the mint yoghurt.
Saffron and Pea Risotto with Pancetta Scallops
I’ve made saffron risotto a couple of times before but I’ve never been satisfied with the yellowness of the end result. In magazines and on TV it’s always almost fluorescent yellow but today it seemed to come out just about right. I guess I used twice as much saffron as usual and let it steep into the stock before I cooked it into the rice.
Fresh Pea and Saffron Risotto with
Scallops cooked with Pancetta
Saffron and Pea Risotto with Pancetta
Scallops - Serves 2
2 liters of fish stock (or vegetable)
1 teaspoon of saffron threads
½ white onion, diced
1 Tablespoon of butter
1 cup of arborio rice
½ cup of fresh peas
2 rashers of pancetta (or bacon)
10 scallops (or prawns, lobster etc)
Bring the stock and saffron threads to simmering point. Fry the
onion in the butter until it’s translucent and add the rice. Fry
until the rice has turned white and one ladle at a time add the
stock and stir until the stock has been absorbed. Continue until ¾
of the stock has been used and the rice has begun to soften.
In a separate pan, fry the pancetta until crisp and the fat has
rendered, do not discard the fat from the pan. Dice the pancetta
and add that along with the peas into the risotto. Continue adding
the stock until the risotto is cooked through.
In the same pan as the pancetta was fried, add the scallops and fry
for one minute each side or until the surface is caramelized and
the flesh has turned opaque.
Pile the risotto on a plate and scatter with the scallops, or if
you’re feeling a little wanky, shape the risotto in a ring then
arrange the scallops around the edge.
Thyme for Some Nuts
Hot Roasted Hazelnuts with
Thyme
Hot Roasted Hazelnuts with Thyme - Makes 2
Cups
2 Cups of Hazelnuts
2 Tablespoons of fresh thyme
½ Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Heat the oven to 200ºC and roast the hazelnuts until brown, about
10-15 minutes. Keep checking so they don’t burn. When they’re done,
cover with a tea towel and let them steam and cool. Rub the skins
off and place in a frying pan. Turn up the heat and add the oil and
thyme and warm through.
Psychedelic Parsley Hummus
Parsley Hummus
Parsley Hummus -
Makes 2 cups
1 clove of garlic
½ cup of parsley leaves, packed
1 tin of chickpeas
¼ cup of sour cream
3 tablespoons of tahini (ground sesame seeds)
2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil
1½ teaspoons of lemon zest
1½ teaspoons of ground cumin
1½ teaspoons of sea salt
¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (I subbed tabasco)
Put everything in a food processor, blend until smooth.
WTF is a Fricassee?
Roast Chicken and Winter Vegetable Fricassee