Roast chicken with thyme

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Using the same method as with the poussins, I roasted a chicken the other day. To me, a roast chicken is a very hearty meal, probably because it reminds me of childhood dinners when my dear mother roasted the chicken. It is so easy to make but so rewarding with its juicy meat and the aromas that fill the house, and usually there is enough for leftovers too.

Something I dislike with roast chicken is when the breast is too dry. Dry chicken breast is so unsexy, and so easy to prevent. The cure is butter. Lovely softened butter, mixed up with herbs, some lemon zest, salt and pepper, and is smeared all over the breasts (this sounds a bit pervy, I know!) underneath the skin (ok, maybe not this part).

It is easy, I promise! So why note invite some friends over for a Sunday roast? Are there better ways to spend an rainy autumn evening?

Roast chicken with thyme, serves 2-4

1 medium chicken

80 g softened butter

1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed

2-3 sprigs of thyme

1/2 lemon

2 parsnips

1 red onion

olive oil

salt and pepper

5-6 sprigs of thyme

Mix the lemon zest, garlic, and the leaves of 2-3 sprigs of thyme with the butter. Add some salt. Cut a pocket in the skin above each breast (basically make a cut through the skin at one end of the breast and slide the knife along the inside of the skin to make a pocket). Fill these pockets with the butter. Put the lemon and maybe some thyme sprigs in the cavity of the bird. Rub in some salt and pepper all around the chicken and place it in a roasting dish. Peel the parsnip and cut it into chunks, peel the onion and cut it into wedges and place them around the chicken. Add some salt and pepper to the vegetables. Drizzle some olive oil over the bird and vegetables and throw over some of the thyme leaves. Put the tray in a 200 C oven for about 1,5 hours. Make sure the chicken is cooked through by cutting in the flesh (you want white meat and clear juices). Let it rest a few minutes (5-10) before serving. We had potatoes au gratin with it as well as some wilted spinach and creamy gravy.

Budapest

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I’m leaving for Budapest today. Spending a long weekend there with my dear parents. Even though both my mother and I love to cook, I’m actually looking forward to a break from it, and only focus on the eating part. 🙂 Thanks to this blog, I also have lots of restaurants and try out. My parents are looking forward to the Hungarian gulasch, and I could always eat another langos. Also have to make sure to buy a bottle of Tokaji, the amazing Hungarian dessert wine.

See you in a few days! The blog will be updated as usual, so you probably won’t even notice I’m gone. 🙂

Rosti with creme fraiche, caviar and red onions

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At least in Sweden this dish was a popular starter in the 70s, and it is something I have picked up from my mother’s repertoire. I love this as a simple dinner for one, but can’t say I serve it as a starter very often. It is a very simple dish, but I love the combination of crispy potato, salty caviar, creamy cream fraiche and a bit of crunch and a punch from the red onions.

Rosti with creme fraiche, caviar and red onions,serves 1 as supper or 2 as a starter

2 large potatoes

knob of butter

olive oil

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

creme fraiche or soured cream

lumpfish caviar (you find this at Waitrose)

Peel the potatoes and grate them. Heat butter and oil in a pan and divide the grated potato into 4-6 rounds in the pan. You need nothing more than the starch from the potatoes to hold it together. Fry them golden and crisp on both sides on medium-high heat and season well with salt and black pepper. Mean while chop the onions and place a dollop of creme fraiche and caviar on each plate and divide the chopped onions between the plates as well. Serve immediately for the potatoes to stay crisp.

Potatoes au gratin a’la Pioneer Woman

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I have always made potatoes au gratin like my mother makes it, and that is a very good way. But sometimes it is good to try new things, right? So I tried Pioneer Woman’s version, and that was really good too!

It is less fiddly because than my mothers which require thin slices of potatoes, where as here Pioneer woman suggests chunks and not peeling the potatoes. To be honest, you don’t notice the potato peel at all, so why not skip it all the time?!

Potatoes au gratin, serves 3-4

10 medium-sized potatoes

knob of butter

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

350 ml single cream

150 ml milk

2 tbsp plain flour

salt

black pepper

grated cheddar

Wash the potatoes and leave the skin on. Slice the potatoes into quite thick slices (5 mm), tack them and cut them into four. Take an oven dish and smear the butter all over it, sides as well as the bottom. Place a third of the potatoes in the dish. Mix together cream, garlic, flour, salt and pepper and pour a third of it over the potatoes. Season it a bit extra. Place another layer of potatoes on top (half of what is left) and pour half the cream mixture on top, a bit extra of salt and pepper and the top layer. Bake in 200 C oven for 40 mins or so, with the dish covered in tin foil. When the cream is hot and bubbly and the potatoes are cooked, cover the top with grated cheese and place the dish under the grill for 10 minutes until the cheese is crisp and golden. Serve with any type of meat.

Chorizo and butter bean stew

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Christopher is of the opinion that I cook too much with butter and/or cream and sometimes I listen to what he has to say. 😉 Without any dairy products I tested (and altered) this recipe by Jamie Oliver. I’m very proud. 

Our nearest supermarket is a real messy one. The other day I was looking for glue for 15 minutes before I gave up, and before that I was searching for lightbulbs for 10 minutes because it wasn’t signposted or logical at all in there. On top of that, the fish counter is terrible, they only have salmon, and all over the shop they sell out or don’t stock it properly. It’s not for me. And since it’s not a Waitrose either (I heart Waitrose) I’m incredibly happy with my Ocado deliveries. It is great to avoid the stress of shopping while hungry on your way home from work, and lovely not to have to carry the heavy bags at all.  

Only downside is that when they are out of stock, they choose what to replace it with. In this case I had ordered proper chorizo sausages, but ended up with the thinly sliced version. No harm done, it tasted lovely, but the texture of the other sausage would have made it so much better. Oh well. Next time.

Chorizo and butterbean stew, serves 3-4

1 onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, pressed

250-200 g chorizo, sliced

olive oil

400 g tinned chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

a dash concentrated stock

salt and black pepper

2 tsp smoked paprika

400 g tinned butterbeans

a large handful spinach

optional: vegeble stock to thin the stew

Heat up some olive oil in a pan and fry the inion, garlic and chorizo for a couple of minutes, without browning very much. Add the tomatoes, stock, vinegar and spices and season to taste. Let it simmer for a few minutes, and add some stock if you think it is too thick. Add the beans and the spinach and let it simmer for another couple of minutes. Serve with rice and garlic bread. Autumnal and warming!

Burgers with potato wedges, parsnips and feta creme

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Beef mince is great weekday food. It is cheap, healthy and very versatile. I often make these burgers served with feta creme and potato wedges instead of in a bun.

Burgers with potato wedges, parsnips and feta creme, serves 2 + a lunch box

Burgers:

500 g beef mince

1 egg

3 tbsp milk 

ca 100 ml breadcrumbs

1,5 tsp sambal oelek

a splash of lemon juice

1 tsp onion granules or 1/2 onion, finely chopped

salt and white pepper

Potatoes and root vegetables:

5 potatoes

3 parsnips

a few carrots

olive oil

rosmary

salt, white pepper

Feta creme:

1/2 packet proper feta

200 ml creme fraiche

a splash of lemon juice

salt, white pepper

Peel the parnsips and perhaps the carrots (I used chantenays so it wasn’t necessary), cut into wedges. Wash the potatoes and cut into wedges as well, put it all in a roasting dish, drizzle over some olive oil and season. Toss and roast in 200C for about 45 minutes. 

Mix all the ingredients for the burgers apart from the mince. Leave it for a few minutes so the breadcrumbs can swell, then mix in the meat. Incorporate thoroughly and shape into burgers. Put them on a plate until needed. When the potatoes have 20 minutes left to cook, fry the burgers in a frying pan in a knob of butter and some oilve oil.

Crumble the feta in a bowl and mush it up with a fork, mix in the creme fraiche, squeeze in some lemon and season with salt and pepper.

I also served some broadbeans with this, sautéed for a few minutes in olive oil with some finely chopped onions, lemon juice and a few chilli flakes.

Nigella’s steak slice with lemon and thyme

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I really like Nigella. Even though she loves to eat in bed (I prefer a proper table) and has a spoon in her dressing gown pocket. 🙂  

Most of her recipes are really good, especially her cookbook Nigella Express is perfekt for weekdays when you’re in a rush.  This recipe, where you marinate the meat after cooking it, than before, comes from that cookbook.

 Do you like Nigella?

A slightly out of focus photo of my new Le Creuset dish, in the colour Granite. Love it!

 Steak slice med citron och timjan, serves 2

 300 g rump steak (preferrably thick)

 2 cloves of garlic, smashed up 

1/2 lemon, zest and juice

1 tsp salt

black pepper 

40 ml olive oil

 3 stalks of thyme, just the leaves 

Cut the fat off the meat and fry it in olive oil a couple of minutes (2-3 mins) on each side. Meanwhile mix the ingredients for the marinade. Put the meat in a dish and marinate each side for 4-5 minutes. Slice it into small pieces and put it back in the dish and serve it.  A potato gratin and broccoli are good accompaniments.

Lazy Saturday morning

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I love the unplanned weekends when you can sleep until you wake up by yourself and then potter around the house until your head feels awake too, and then make a nice breakfast and really enjoy it.

On weekdays I have my sparse breakfast when I get to work. Just creamy fruity yoghurt. I’m not very hungry in the mornings. But at the weekend, after a lie in, I actually am.

Today, I had oeufs en cocotte again. Please try it, it is just perfect for a lazy breakfast. Perfect.

Or why not try Eggs Benedict,

or sweet eggy bread,

an omelette,

or something a bit untraditional, like bruschetta 

or Toast Skagen?

Bon weekend!

Chapel Down

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When I moved to England two years ago I had no idea that there were vineyards here. During that time, even my parents neighbours in the south of Sweden has started a vineyard, and both there and here the climate is mild and suitable, so why not. The most famous vineyard in England is Chapel Down in Tenterden, Kent in the south-east.

So far I have only tried one of their wines, the Flint Dry and I must say, it is very good. The wine is (of course) dry and the mainly consists of Chardonnay, Huxelrebe and Bacchus. I find it quite fruity despite it being dry, and it was much nicer than I had imagined.  Why not try local produce when it comes to wines as well as food?!

Scones

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I’ve been watching every episode of The Great British Bake Off, and it has really inspired me to bake (even more). I tried Paul Hollywood’s (one of the judges in the program) recipe for scones, and they were really nice. But for some reason they rose funny. 😦 I did everything correct, didn’t twist the cutter and didn’t brush beaten egg on the sides, and yet only a few turned out OK and looked like scones. Well, they were tasty anyway so I just have to keep practice and see what I did wrong.

The best one!

Paul Hollywood’s scones, about 20

500g plain flour

80g softened butter

80g caster sugar

2 eggs

5 tsp baking powder

250 ml milk

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt, for glazing

Preheat the oven to 200C, put parchment paper onto a baking tray.

Put 450g of the flour into a large bowl and add the butter. Rub the flour and butter together with your fingers to create a breadcrumb-like mixture. Add the sugar, eggs and baking powder and use a wooden spoon to turn the mixture gently. Make sure you mix all the way down to the bottom and incorporate all of the ingredients. Add half of the milk and keep turning the mixture gently with the spoon to combine. Then add the remaining milk a little at a time and bring everything together to form a very soft, wet dough. (You may not need to add all of the milk.) Sprinkle most of the remaining flour onto a clean work surface. Tip the soft dough out onto the work surface and sprinkle the rest of the flour on top. The mixture will be wet and sticky. Use your hands to fold the dough in half, then turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. By folding and turning the mixture in this way, you incorporate the last of the flour and add air. Do this a few times until you’ve formed a smooth dough. Be careful not to overwork your dough.

Next roll the dough out: sprinkle flour onto the work surface and the top of the dough, then use the rolling pin to roll up from the middle and then down from the middle. Turn the dough by 90 degrees and continue to roll until it’s about 2.5cm thick. ‘Relax’ the dough slightly by lifting the edges and allowing the dough to drop back onto the work surface. Using a pastry cutter, stamp out rounds from the pastry and place them onto the baking tray. Dip the edge of the pastry cutter in flour to make it easier to cut out the scones without them sticking. Don’t twist the cutter – just press firmly, then lift it up and push the dough out. Once you’ve cut 4 or 5 rounds you can re-work and re-roll the dough to make it easier to cut out the remaining rounds. Any leftover dough can be worked and rolled again, but the resulting scones won’t be as fluffy.

Place the scones on the baking tray and leave them to rest for a few minutes to let the baking powder work. Then use a pastry brush to glaze them with the beaten egg and salt mixture. Be careful to keep the glaze on the top of the scones. (If it runs down the sides it will stop them rising evenly.) Bake the scones in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, or until the scones are risen and golden-brown.