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.
Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing
I think I'll be adding this as a staple salad, it's super fast since you're really only just tossing things into a bowl and really nice, not too hot or sour. Heck, if you were pressed for time and wanted extra crunch, you probably don't even need to cook the veggies.
Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing - Serves 4-6
Dressing:
2tsp Tom Yum Paste
1tsp Sesame Oil
2Tbs Rice Vinegar
1tsp Honey
2Tbs of Canola or Peanut Oil
Sea Salt to taste
Salad:
125g Broccoli (I used broccolini)
125g Fine Beans (I used sugar snap peas)
125g Baby Corn
25g Button Mushrooms (I forgot them)
100g Chinese Lettuce (I used regular mixed lettuce)
150g Bean Sprouts
Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together
Cook the broccoli, beans and corn in salted boiling water for two minutes then plunge in ice cold water to stop the cooking
Drain them and add the remaining salad ingredients and dressing. Serve.
Oeufs En Cocotte (Baked Eggs)
Given I was making this for dinner, and that I don't own any
ramekins, I made a fairly large one and it was just about the right
size for a meal in itself, for a start her suggestion 1 egg per
person would have been perfect. Come to think of it now, it would
have been nifty in my espresso cups with some steamed
asparagus.
Noodle Soup for Needy People
This is probably one of her lazier recipes, and IMHO they don't belong in a serious cookbook, just those that are for table decoration and the quick flick through the pictures for inspiration type books. Mind, what did I expect for a TV Chef cookbook anyway? I guess she tries to absolve herself by saying when she makes it she throws in anything that's handy and the only key ingredients are stock, noodles and vegetables. For those that haven't made a noodle soup before, I guess following her additions of some brown sugar, soy, ginger and star-anise do make a difference in tilting the soup to an asian flavour as opposed to anything else. I took her advice and made some additions and substitutions.
Noodle Soup for Needy People - Serves
2
(note, this is what I made, not quite Nigella's)
175g of Soba Noodles (she used udon)
750mL of Chicken Stock (I used the stock I made from the roast
chicken over the weekend)
1t Soft Brown Sugar
1 Star Anise
1t Crushed Ginger
2T Soy
75g Bean Sprouts
750g Sugar Snap Peas
75g Sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
Sliced Spring Onions to Garnish (she used coriander)
Add any other vegetables or ingredients you like, I added some
carrot and some store bought fish cakes I found next to the noodles
at the supermarket.
Cook the noodles to packet instructions, set aside in serving
bowls. Bring the stock, sugar, anise, ginger and soy to a boil then
add the remaining ingredients except the garnish. Spoon the
vegetables over the noodles and top up with liquid.
Mirin-Glazed Salmon
It only took 10 minutes to make from start to finish and was damn tasty! This is definitely going in the keeper list. Okay, I did make a couple of minor changes, I added some peas to the rice (edamame would have been better but it's hard to find here) plus I was out of Mirin so I used Sake instead, but it's all rice wine right? Right?
Mirin-Glazed Salmon - Serves 4
60mL Mirin
60mL Soy Sauce
50g Brown Sugar
4x 125g pieces of Salmon
2T rice vinegar
2 Spring Onions, sliced into long strips
Jasmine Rice
Mix the mirin, brown sugar and soy sauce in a shallow dish that will take all four pieces of the salmon, and marinate the salmon in it for 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second. Meanwhile heat a large non-stick frying pan on the hob.
Cook the salmon in the hot dry pan for 2 minutes and then turn the salmon over, add the marinade and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove the salmon to whatever plate you're serving it on, add the rice vinegar to the hot pan and warm through.
Pour the dark, sweet salty glaze over the salmon and top with the spring onion strips. Serve with rice.