Chicken dinners

This month Peter was sick, then I was sick, then Phoebe was sick, then I was sick again, then Phoebe was sick again. When Peter was first sick I thought he needed chicken soup. I trawled the internet and put together this version based on the best bits of all of them. I recommend you whip this up for the invalid in your house.
Into your stock pot, put one whole chicken, onion wedges, 3 cloves garlic, 1 carrot roughly chopped, bay leaves & a sprig of thyme, some lemon wedges, a couple of sticks of celery roughly chopped & some pink peppercorns (you can use black if you like). Your Le Creuset Dutch oven would be ideal if your chicken fitted in it. Mine didn't.
Cover the chicken with water. Cover the pot, & bring to the boil, turn off & leave for an hour without peeking. After an hour remove the chicken & set aside to cool, just until you can handle it. Add saffron strands to the stock pot & bring back to the boil. Remove the chicken meat from the bone & return the carcass to the pot. Simmer 3 hours to reduce & concentrate the flavour. When you're ready to serve boil a small quantity of egg pasta or noodles. Not a full serving - just a small handful per invalid. Steam seasonal vegetables. I used carrots, courgettes & broccoli - something colourful. You could probably poach these in the strained stock but I was concerned to retain the colour so I blanched & steamed. Strain the stock & reheat. In each soup dish put a handful of pasta, a handful of shredded chicken, a selection of the vegetables and pour over a couple of ladlefuls of the broth. This was everything it promised to be.
Use the left over chicken in a salad, risotto, pilaf, on sandwiches. I know a boy who would love a chicken sandwich with cranberry sauce or blueberry chutney. And freeze the left over broth for stock.
This got me thinking about the roast chicken and what a perfect meal that can be. Have a look at Jamie Oliver's perfect roast chicken. Carefully separate the skin from the meat so that you can put your hand under the skin and push in a handful of chopped herbs. Drizzle a little oil in. This will take your roast chicken to new heights. With our roast chicken we had carrots from the garden with beans & a selection of roast veg.
Then you have at least one more meal. This time I made a chicken pie (May 2009). Phoebe learned to make pastry & I think she'll be good at it as she has cool hands. And of course another batch of stock.
I have to tell you about our quince conserve. Remember those poached quinces last month. I kept some of the left over poaching liquor in the fridge and I discovered it has set so I transferred it to a jar and we're eating it on our toast. I have some quinces & am going to have a go at bonafide Quince Jelly this weekend so I'll let you know how I get on.
Last weekend we had people to dinner & Peter made herb bread sticks from a recipe in the latest Dish magazine. In the picture there was a red drink that reminded me of Campari soda in the seventies. So we served our bread sticks with Campari soda with a twist of lime & a sprig of mint.
As well as the carrots, which have been stunning (we have 3 colours - orange, white and a purple outer with orange inner), we've had a good rhubarb crop this summer. Peter has been eating stewed rhubarb every day for his breakfast. The tomatoes are making progress but it has been a disappointing year and I foresee an autumn batch of green tomato chutney coming up.

A Birthday Dinner

Harriet had her birthday dinner at our house on Friday night & I promised her a birthday blog. In typical Harriet fashion there was some initial vagueness around numbers. When she told me who was coming I expressed some surprise because I thought her initial request had suggested more than 2 friends. The next thing you know she had invited 12, but in the event there were 8 including Harriet plus Peter, Phoebe & I so that was fine. She had wanted a barbecue and you know what our weather has been so I was a bit worried. But that worked out as well.
So what did we eat?
Initially we put out hummus & that amazing Galilee cheese spread plus olives. And the famous cheesy feet & hands. Then we did a plate of Zany Zeus haloumi with lemon wedges and the broad bean fritters served with lemon yoghurt. If you've not cooked haloumi do try. It's simple and delicious. On the other hand, maybe not. It's not cheap & we have a bit of a reputation for it now.
By the time they'd finished with that lot it was getting a bit cooler so we came in and sat around the table. We barbecued vegetarian sausages that went down really well with my homemade tomato sauce. And we just did a selection of salads. Quite a selection actually because as usual I don't know when to stop. I did the Turkish vegetable fattoush and the carrot salad from the Moorish blog. Then I found an amazing beetroot pilaf I wanted to try. It's really 2 pilafs (is that a word?) combined but don't let that put you off. You just need 2 cooking receptacles. For 6, heat a little oil & butter in medium frying pan with a lid (or cover securely with tinfoil). Add half a finely chopped onion and partially soften. Stir in 3/4 cup brown basmati rice - I used a combination of brown basmati & wild rice - & fry 3-4 minutes, then add 1 medium beetroot peeled & finely chopped (yes you will have messy fingers) plus 400ml hot vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, reduce to the lowest possible simmer, cover & leave 25 minutes, resisting the temptation to peek. While that is doing, start the 2nd pilaf off in the same way adding a cinnamon stick & 1/2 tsp turmeric to the onion. Stir in white basmati rice, cook 3 minutes, add 375ml hot stock, bring to the boil, cover, reduce to lowest simmer and cook 15 minutes. At the end of the cooking time rest both pans covered 5 minutes then 15 minutes uncovered to cool slightly. Gently fold both together into a serving dish with some chopped flat leaf parsley and lots (about 200g) of crumbly feta.
That was my absolute favourite but the 'piece de resistance' was probably the quinoa & edamame salad. Again really easy. Quinoa is available in most supermarkets & I buy Ceres Organics. Rinse about a cup of quinoa & simmer in a little over twice the volume water or stock about 2o minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Spread 0ut on a tray & leave to cool.
Saute about a cup of frozen corn (or kernels scraped off 2-3 cobs) in a pan with crushed garlic & salt about 5 minutes on a high heat until lightly coloured. Blanch & pod a 400g bag of frozen edamame beans. We got these at Moore Wilson's. I don't know if you can buy them not frozen. In a large bowl mix the quinoa, corn mixture, a drained tin of chickpeas, 3 finely sliced spring onions and 3 finely sliced radishes. If you get them from your garden you may be lucky enough to find 3 in slightly different shades. Make the dressing in the processor:
1/3 cup olive oil
zest & juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp cumin
handful basil leaves
salt & pepper
Then toss with the quinoa mix. Colourful & delicious.
We finished the evening with Floriditas Vegan Raspberry Chocolate cake.