Chicken 3 Ways - Part 1

Chicken 3 Ways - Part 1

Time for roast chicken

I’ve not posted for as long as I would have liked, as I have been caught up in a new job, and all that entails – crazy commutes, canteen lunches, burgers grabbed on the way home.  Sadly, little time for budget meals at home, or typing.  But I grabbed a spare 10 minutes to type this one up.

A couple of months ago, I picked up a chicken in the discount section.

There are at least three, potentially four recipes that can come off of a delicious piece of meat such as this.  And all for €3.50 for the main event. 

It was the weekend I decamped to my Dad’s house to cook the whole thing.

 

 

Winner Winner Budget Roast Chicken Dinner

Once we get the opportunity to have a roast chicken dinner, we are in full on celebration mode, folks.  And I feel like celebrating my first full attempt at roasting a chicken.  Never done it before. Dad was very happy that I was cooking too.

First up -

Brining the chicken

We're hitting this thing with 24 hours of seasoned saltwater to preserve the flavour.

• Cover your whole chicken in water, in a pan, probably about 4 pints at least. 
• Add about 5-6 tablespoons of salt
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.
• Things like rosemary, oregano, lemon, bay leaves, boquet garnis, peppercorns, a little wine or vinegar (couple of tablespoons, tops) don’t hurt your brine either.

  This brining process will make your bird very succulent, but also, kill off anything you may have inherited from your SupermarketValue chicken that you may not want.

• Refrigerate overnight.
• Drain the liquid, and dry the chicken with kitchen paper or a tea towel.

Now rub a little oil and salt and pepper over the skin, this will help it crisp it up nicely in the oven. 

Before roasting, I added

• Rosemary - about 5 or six large sprigs inside and outside. Rosemary grows in abundance in local gardens along the road near my house, and is easily aquireable... 
• Garlic - 1 whole bulb, slightly smashed, but still in its skin, into the roasting pan, and a few cloves in the cavity. 
• Lemon - score, zest,  and punch holes in it, and jam it in the cavity.  Sprinkle some of the zest on the outside, and keep the rest for the gravy (see below).  Lemon and chicken are good buddies.

Method

At a pre-heated 200°C , a small chicken will cook through in about a half hour to 40 minutes
Mine took about 50 minutes as my Dad has an Aga, which only goes to about 180.  
HINT:  You know to check the juices run clear and not red, by sticking a skewer or fork in the centre of a chicken, right?   

Chicken is not to be messed around with – under-cooked can and will (from my own experiences), cause terrible awful stomach upsets.  So if 50 minutes isn't enough, put your roast back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

I think this came out OK.Check out the crispy skin the oil rub has given it.

*munch* - Mmm... my first bite of the breast slice I tried is *very* juicy, slightly seasoned from the brine, and the rosemary on the skin gives it a nice subtle crispy flavour. 

So what to serve on the side?  

 

Gravy, mashed potatoes, and carrot and parsnip

•  Gravy made with a little white wine, hot water, a chicken stock cube, and flour mixed with the pan juices, whisked up vigorously until thick.  The trick is to add the flour VERY gradually, so you don't get lumps, and use a sieve if possible.    
• You might even add some of the lemon zest I mentioned you save, earlier.  If you're very brave, retrieve the lemon from the cavity of the chicken and squash some of that nice caramelised jammy citrus flavour into the gravy.  Just a little squeeze, but it gives your gravy a real zing.
• Mash - Dad likes his store bought mashed potatoes, so we went with that.  I'm not going to tell you how to make mash,  I won't insult you ;-)  
• However, champ is the best mash variant, hands down.  Well, maybe with some horseradish...
• Carrot and Parsnip - Again, this was bought from Dad's favourite local convenient veg supplier - Mash Direct  .  I'd probably have made it myself from scratch, but I put a value added twist on it:

Spice up your carrot and parsnip: 

• Chop and boil the veg (or just heat it in the oven if you're my Dad using Mash Direct's lovely pre-prepared version)
• Drain and mash the veg with:
• 1 tsp cumin.
• 1tsp garam masala or mild curry powder
• a little salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp cream. 
• a slug of milk 
• Salt and pepper  

Adding the milk and cream will probably make the veg mixture a little runny, so cook that off until the consistency is a little thicker.  Adjust to taste, as always.   

A little butter goes well with this too (if your Dad’s not on a low-fat diet) 

Cumin and garam masala, really bring out the flavour of the parsnip, countering its bitterness, and complement the sweetness of the carrot.

All this went down very well with Mr SupermarketValueFoodBlog Sr.  

What's next?

So 3 way Chicken Parts 2&3 (and maybe 4) will cover:

• Budget pasta bake featuring the chicken breast we didn't eat.
• Chicken dopiaza curry, using the thighs.
• Jerk Chicken drumsticks.  Dad ate mine, but I found more...

And of course, make stock or soup with the leftover carcass.  

But these will feature another time, and not necessarily next week or month.  But soon.

Enjoy putting some love into your chicken and veg dinners, all.

Versatile Sauces; more Monster Sandwiches

Bonus post – Versatile Sauces; Monster Sandwiches

 

So as I eat a lot of sandwiches and snack foods, as they tend to be the things that are usually reduced, we need something to go with them.  We'll come back to this behemoth above at the end of the article, but first, let's discuss sauces I've made. 

Teriyaki-style dipping sauce

I made this to go with 3 spring rolls I picked up for €0.60

• 2 tbsp dark soy
• 2 tbsp light soy
• Garlic, crushed with salt
• Ginger, sliced and crushed.  I used my good old budget pestle and mortar that I got from the charity shop, but the back of a knife or a heavy implement and a chopping board work as well. 
• Brown Sugar – about one small coffee-shop style packet will do.

Mix the whole lot together and leave for a few hours for the flavours to mingle.  If you have anything like flour or cornflour to thicken the sauce with, this works as well.

Multi-purpose Salad Dressing

Any oil and acidic ingredient will make a fantastic salad dressing, but did you know you can also add it to stale bread to make toasty croutons, or dip a basic supermarket sandwich into it?

So, ideally you want to get the nicest oil and vinegar you can, but even basic oil and a lemon will work.

The ratio is key.  

4 measures of oil to one of lemon is my preference.  
But always - taste and adjust!

Basic cheat’s barbeque sauce. 

I’m now going to reveal the secret of quick barbeque sauce.  I will probably never get service in the less discerning restaurants and cafes in Northern Ireland again, by revealing this...

Here it is:

 - Mix equal parts of ketchup and HP (brown) sauce.

  
That’s it.

 You could add chilli powder or more vinegar if you want, but really, this is the easiest thing you can do to make a burger taste a bit better, on the cheap. 

It works surprisingly well as a marinade, if not better than as a "BBQ" sauce. 

Alfredo sauce

Another sauce I like to throw over my dinner is a cheese sauce, sometimes called alfredo in the US, so let’s go through what you need to do for this.  It’s commonly used for pasta but I’ve found it works well on other dishes like chicken, fish or even on a ham toastie.  Or for nachos.  Cheese sauces are simple, but can catch you out if improperly prepared.  So let’s do it right.  

 - So grate up a couple of fistfuls of whatever cheese you have to hand, but I recommend cheddar or red Leicester (it’s usually quite cheap here)  Don’t use mozzarella for this one, it may be the cheapest cheese you see in the supermarket, but a cheese sauce needs a strong flavour.  

 -  Add a good dust of Parmesan as well.  Proper Alfredo sauce uses about a small tub of grated Parmesan, but for economic reasons, we use what we have. 

- Melt the grated cheese *slowly* in some milk in a saucepan.  Add some cream, and continue to stir.  

This is the tough part.   

Making a roux is a simple thing which can go badly very quickly.  It’s why trainee chefs have to practice this constantly. 

All we are doing is cooking some flour in butter, but it can go lumpy, or burn, in a second.  So pay attention!, watch the consistency by continually stirring it, and the instant it starts to go golden, remove from the heat.  

Whisk the roux into the melted cheese sauce, vigorously.  No lumps, please.  

 There you go.  Taste the sauce, add more cheese if necessary, and when thick, take off the heat.  Note that what you’re putting your cheese sauce on will affect how much roux you want to use to thicken the sauce.  For spuds or nachos, I like a thick sauce.  For pasta, a slightly thinner one.   

But don’t stint on the cheese.

Sandwich time

Now do you remember this sandwich?  It was composed (almost) entirely of leftovers at Christmas last year.  It contains:

On the top layer -

Sausage meat

Mozarella

Sage and onion stuffing

Gravy, just a little to get some moistness in there – leftover food can go dry!

On the bottom layer:

Turkey

Crispy Bacon, which was used to wrap the turkey to keep it moist as it cooked

Avocado – not leftover but works well with the turkey and bacon

Cranberry sauce

Scotch bonnet chilli sauce.

Method
 - Toast the 3 slices bread for a minute, then put the mozzarella cheese on the top slice, and start to melt it in a low oven.  My dad has an Aga at his place but I’d say about 150° in a conventional oven.    I then sliced up everything else, assembled it to my liking, and put the top slice with the melted cheese on the top of the sandwich, and back into the oven, for a few more minutes until things were looking heated and melted.  Easy.

*munch*

It goes without saying that this was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever made for myself.  The key to leftovers, is changing the taste up.  Sauces will feature in future posts, but for now, this filler was all killer.

Fruity lamb, chickpea and aubergine curry

A fruity lamb and chick pea curry

The chick peas and veg, frying up

I love a good curry, and I love lamb.

  It wasn’t my favourite meat when I was growing up, but I’ve come to really enjoy it.  Chops, cutlets, real kebabs (note to self, must do a recipe for koftas next time I see some cheap minced lamb...)  My curry tastes have also changed over the years - from the mild, soupy comforts of chicken tikka masala, I now prefer something a little more authentic, and hot.

So today we’ll use this half price pack of €3 lamb chunks, and see what we have in the fridge.

Cheap lamb.  Note - does not contain any farmers

 

Ingredients

• Our budget lamb chunks.  These will need some long slow cooking.
•  Onions.  Always good in curries. 
•  Garlic.  
• A chilli.  What, did you expect me not to put some heat in?  Plus the fruitiness of a chilli *does* make a difference to the overall flavour. 
• Today’s larder star – a tin of chick peas.  Another Indian recipe I’m fond of that’s cheap and tasty is dhal, which uses lentils.  But we’ll go with chick peas today.
• Aubergine.  Just happened to have one in the fridge, and they take very well to slow cooking as they do to frying. 
• 1 mandarin orange.  I was almost going to go for a Moroccan tagine today, but I thought I'd cross over and add the fruit to the curry anyway.
• Natural yoghurt.  Normally a lot of curries are tomato based, or very dry.  I’ve found yoghurt, if cooked right, is easily as tasty, and there are quite a few recipes for yoghurt chicken online as well.
• Spice mix: 
• Curry Powder. 
• Ideally we want a little cumin and some garam masala, but this budget pack of curry powder will suffice.  It’s a little salty mind, so go easy on the NaCl this time.  You should always season your food, but always taste budget ingredients and foods first, as they are already quite salty.  
• White pepper.  I heard a radio documentary about white pepper many years ago, explaining that it was this ingredient, prized in Indian cuisine, where the heat and kick in traditional South Asian food comes from.  Remarkably cheap as well, but beware, it’s like black pepper, but turned up to 11... 
• Let's add some black pepper too, just for contrast.  Ground fairly coarsely.
• Cinnamon.  I happened to have a stick in the cupboard and thought "If we're using oranges and almost making a tagine, may as well add this Moroccan staple"

Method

• First of all, let’s dry fry our spice mix in a hot pan for a minute – that’s two heaped tbsp curry powder, one tsp each of white and black pepper ,and our cinnamon stick.  Once fragrant, but not burnt...
•  Add a tablespoon of oil, and add our meat, chopped onions, chopped and de-seeded chilli, and garlic, and cook until the meat is browned, and the onions are starting to caramelise.  Say 5-10 minutes.
• Now transfer the meat, onions, chilli, garlic, cinnamon stick, and aubergine, to a slow cooker, or another pan if you have one, and add some of the mandarin orange segments, along with a little of the zest as well.
• Time to make the chick pea curry sauce - Add them to the pan, along with a little of the liquid from the tin.  Stir and taste, you may want a little more curry powder. 
• Add the yoghurt and cover your pan.  Let the chick pea curry sauce and the lamb and veg do their thing for a few hours on a low heat.
  
• Finally when ready to serve, add 1 more tablespoon of natural yoghurt to the pan to thicken the sauce, take a serving of the chick pea curry sauce, and a serving of the slow-cooked lamb and veg, and add a bit of coriander to finish.  

 
 

*munch*

The beginnings of our slow cooked lamb curry

Wow!  Long slow cooking has brought the best out of the budget lamb, and the punch of the white pepper and chilli gives this a real kick.  The aubergine has become soft and melty, but the chick peas retain a bit of texture.  The lamb is super fall-apart tender, and the fruit has turned into a nice tangy mush.  The cinnamon comes through too.   

 One thing I would change is maybe blending or mashing the tinned chick peas a little, to make the sauce thicker.

If I had added pineapple and used lentils instead of chick peas, this would have been a very acceptable pathia. 

Delicious, if I do say so myself.