Chopsticks, Fork and Spoon

Sunday roast chicken with duck fat potatoes, pigs in blankets and roasted greens. It cannot be considered a quick meal, but the end result is worth the time and effort. Time needed: 3 hours.

Roast Chicken
Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Rub onto chicken herbs and seasoning, feel free to shove some under the skin. We used rosemary, thyme, mint, salt and pepper. Some butter on top. Chop a few onions in half to prop up chicken on roasting tray. Cover whole tray with foil creating a gap between the foil and the chicken for the air to circulate. Roast for 30 mins per 500g, basting it every 30 mins to keep it moist. For the last 30 mins, remove the foil to brown chicken. (Our chicken was 2kg, hence 1.5 hours with foil, 30 mins without). Leave to stand for another 30 minutes wrapped in foil before carving and serving.

Gravy
The juices and grease from the roast should never be wasted! Skim the oil off and separate the juicy goodness from the oil (roast oil can actually be kept for future use). Pour juices into a saucepan and add a bit of liquid stock (depends how much gravy you want). Let it simmer and reduce, taste and season appropriately. Add flour to thicken. Serve whilst hot.

Duck Fat Potatoes
Skin/wash and chop potatoes to prefer size, and boil in lightly salted water till half cooked (when there is still resistance at the core when poking it). Grease roasting tray. Strain and scatter the potatoes. Spread duck fat uniformly over all (how much is discretionary). Shove into oven until crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside (this depends on how big your potatoes are).



Pigs in Blankets
Usually made by wrapping sausages in streaky bacon. I feel that its just as effective and cheaper to just buy sausage meat and wrap that instead. You may want to mince some onion and/or garlic into the sausage meat but its not essential. Size depends on how much meat and bacon you have. (Ours were similar to a pingpong ball). Shove in the oven for 20-30 minutes (vary for size). (This will slot in nicely with the last 30 minutes of the roast chicken. Juices from the pigs will also add to the roast juices.)



Roasted Greens
Cut capsicums and courgettes into strips. Onions into quarters. Sprinkle olive oil and herbs and shove in oven until cooked (i think 15-20 minutes).

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In order to revive this blog and make posts less of a burden, I'm abandoning the facade of professionalism and embracing the casual stream of colloquial language and prose.

Simple meal. Simple flavours. Simple recipe.

Sweet Potato Mash
Peel and clean sweet potatoes. Boil till tender. Strain. Add glob of butter with salt and pepper to season. Mash like no tomorrow (use a fork). Optional: Add bits of capsicums (above), leek, or whatever other vegetables you like. I have also been advised to either add milk or a raw egg during mashing to make it smoother.

Oyster Sauce Chicken Wings 
Preheat oven 200 degrees, upper and lower grill. Cut chicken wings into sections. Marinate in oyster sauce and a dash of sesame oil. Wait (need not long, 20 minutes will do). Shove them in and wait (time depends on size of chicken wings, stab with fork to check readiness. If juices run clear, its time to eat.)

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Two Sundays ago, dinner and dessert was the plan. And after spending five hours in the UK border agency with nothing but the Weekend Guardian Magazine, the recipe chosen was from the food and wine section, a traditional Levantine dish called Maqluba. And because dinner is never enough, Banoffee Pie was made for a follow up. What else would be a better conclusion to the night than banana, toffee with a biscuity base. With the help of two of my friends, we shopped, we cooked and we conquered.

Happy cooking.

Maqluba 'Upside Down' - serves 6-8

4 medium aubergines
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g basmati rice
½ tsp ground allspice
1 tsp finely chopped thyme or marjoram leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
600g minced lamb
Olive oil, for frying
1 good pinch cinnamon
2 onions, finely sliced
3 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into thick slices
ed almonds
400ml beef stock
Finely chopped parsley, to garnish

Cut the aubergines into 6mm slices, sprinkle them with salt and leave for 30 minutes to an hour. Put the rice into water to soak for an hour. Mix the allspice, thyme or marjoram and garlic with the meat. Rinse the aubergines and pat them dry with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel. Heat about 1cm of oil over a medium-high heat and fry the aubergines on both sides until just starting to turn golden. When they're all done, remove and set aside, then brown off the meat in the same pan. Tip into a bowl, season with cinnamon and plenty of pepper, then fry the onions until soft and translucent.

Brush a round casserole lightly with oil. Line the casserole with a layer of tomatoes, then a layer of aubergine (use a third, so you end up with three layers), and sprinkle a layer of meat on top. Scatter over a few almonds and a third of the onion. Repeat until all the aubergine and meat is used up. Put the drained, rinsed rice on top, pour over half the stock, cover and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes. Add the rest of the stock and cook for another 30-40 minutes, until the rice is almost cooked. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Put an ovenproof serving dish or plate over the pan, carefully turn out the contents of the casserole and put into the oven for 10-15 minutes. The rice will finish cooking and any liquid left will be absorbed. Sprinkle parsley over the top. Serve with a few peeled, deseeded and sliced cucumbers, tossed in yogurt with a pinch of sea salt and chopped mint.
Recipe from Guardian Weekend Magazine, 28th September 2009

Banoffee Pie

400g of Condensed Milk
Three Large Ripe Bananas
Packet of Digestives
Half-pint of Double Cream
2tbs Butter
Vanilla Essence 50g
Milk Chocolate

Crush the biscuits in a freezer bag with a rolling pin until they are reduced to crumbs. Gently heat some butter in a saucepan until liquid (or just leave some out at room temperature to soften). Pour crumbs, dash of vanilla essence and liquid/soft butter and mix in with the crumbs until they start to bind together. Transfer the biscuit crumbs to a round dish and pat with a spoon so that they cover the base. Place in the fridge to set. Put the closed tin(s) of condensed milk in a pan of boiling water and allow to boil for 2 hours . You should put a lid on the pan to prevent all the water boiling off. When done, remove the tin and leave to cool. When cool enough to handle, open the tin carefully - the condensed milk will have caramelised and may well shoot out the opening. Slice the bananas and arrange them on top of the biscuit base and pour/spoon the toffee from the tin onto the layer of banana. Place back in the fridge to cool. Whip the cream until peaking (you may grate some chocolate into cream if desired), then fold on top of toffee and smooth out. Grate milk chocolate on suface for effect. Keep in the fridge until needed, covered with cling-film.

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