Hello and Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog.

This is my very first one, so bear with me and enjoy reading about my adventures cooking all of the recipes from Nigella Lawson's new book 'Kitchen'.

From time-to-time I may post about things other than cooking, after all, Nigella does sell a lifestyle that most women would like have a slice of, so I would like to share a bit of mine - not quite as glamorous but fun none-the-less (may I add that most of my ideas and thoughts revolve around food anyway)!

Just to set the scene a little, I am based in Yorkshire, live with my husband and gorgeous toddler who is rapidly approaching his second year. I work in the events industry and love music, books, fashion, culture and of course... food.

Enjoy.

Goddess Mx (meant in the loosest possible sense, believe me)!

Monday 14 March 2011

No spring chicken...

... yeah, that is how I have been feeling lately, but have also been racking my brain on what to entitle this post and this is the best I can come up with! You see, the subject of this post is chicken, as I endeavoured to make Nigella's mother's praised chicken.

The ingredients for this dish are pretty standard fare for a sunday roast really - a chicken and loads of veg. The actual prepping of the chook was a bit unnerving for me being a bit of a scaredy cat. You have to untruss it, lie it breast side down and lean on it until you hear a crack (to flatten it). The next bit involved cutting the ankle bones off with a pair of kitchen scissors. After my lesson in butchering, the rest was a breeze! The chicken was browned off in garlic oil, resting snuggly inside a casserole dish. Vermouth was added to the pot and reduced before adding chopped carrots, celery and leeks. The pot was topped up with cold water and I added sea salt, pink peppercorns and parsley stalks before bringing to the boil then simmering with the lid on for a couple of hours. Once done, the chicken was served alongside basmati rice and topped with wholegrain mustard (didn't have the suggested English version), parsley leaves and dill - my new favourite herb. My verdict on all of this is that it was pretty average, summed up by the photo. The best bit was the herbs. I think there was a distinct lack of stock.


Today I embarked on using the leftovers (as guided by 'Kitchen, of course!) which took me, oh all of five minutes to prepare, and was a much more satisfying meal than last night's - lunch was a mouth-watering chicken, bacon and avocado salad. I fried off a few streaky rashers of bacon in garlic oil and then prepared a plate of iceberg lettuce, cold cooked chicken, avocado chunks before making a lovely dijon mustard-rice vinegar-olive oil dressing. This was all thrown together, sprinkled with parsley (couldn't get chives in Waitrose) and eaten happily with pleasure. There is something about iceberg lettuce and salty bacon that works oh-so-well.

Back soon with more chicken left-overs, but until then I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine.

Goddess Mx

12 comments:

  1. That bacon and avocado salad looks divine. I've not long eaten but that's making me hungry all over again x

    p.s. I'm 36 and definitely no spring chicken!

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  2. There is nothing better than a simply prepared chicken ( maybe, not the crack in the back butchering style :-) ).The salad is quite pretty too, Thanks for sharing.

    Velva

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  3. Chicken is so versatile. I love that you made it last for several meals!

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  4. Bacon!! Who can resist? Great salad.

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  5. I've never thought of chicken having ankles before - this cracked me up! Great to have found your blog (via the wonderful Belleau Kitchen) - I haven't invested in Kitchen yet so I'll be watching with interest! Have a great week, Lucy

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  6. Hi there - thanks for following my blog I am really enjoying yours and am in awe of your cooking! Nigellas chicken recipes are the best arent they, simple and delicious... I m really looking forward to reading more and inspired to get cooking again x

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  7. I am impressed that the leftovers were better than the main meal as I am something of a non-believer in leftovers. Now you have my curiosity up! Who can resist a delicious salad though. Kudos to you for giving this recipe a try as I have been wondering about Nigella's praised chicken.

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  8. I love leftovers especially chickens. I'll be cooking the praised chicken soon and have to make sure to leave some for the salad. :)

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  9. It all sounds good, but that salad looks especially tasty - great combination of flavours there with the bacon and avocado,I could just eat it now actually!!!

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  10. Hi Karen
    Thanks for leaving a comment - you obviously know the Lake District well living up north! Most of them were Ullswater (the sailing ones and view between trees to lake with boats), the others I can't remember off the top of my head - we saw so many beautiful lakes in 2 weeks that a year or so on the memories have faded a bit!
    Gill x

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  11. I wanted to make this one quiet weekend but never got around to it. Looks like you've done justice to it! And you're right - bacon and lettuce goes together perfectly in dishes..

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  12. yum! that chicken looks like the perfect dish for a comforting evening. thanks for sharing- love your blog!

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