Chicken and Chips

Diced breast of chicken, with carrots, brussels sprouts, and roasted chips dressed in vinegar, sunflower oil, herbs (oregano and tarragon), and smoked paprika. 

The chicken breasts were roasted inside a lidded casserole dish, on a bed of carrots. Cooked for forty minutes under glass, and another twenty minutes with the lid removed. The chicken was dressed in a little sea salt. 

The chipped potatoes were parboiled for ten minutes before being placed in the oven for about twenty five minutes. Turned once. 

The sprouts were cooked in a small lidded pan for about seven minutes. 

Omelette with Brunswick Ham

New Year's eve breakfast. Brunswick Ham with a two egg omelette, seasoned with a little salt. Served with some tomato ketchup. The omelette was cooked slowly and turned, so it was pale on both sides.Cooked in some salted butter.  

 

Yellow Pepper Soup with Chicken

A simple soup made with half a yellow pepper diced into small cubes, chopped carrots, potatoes, and some leftover sugar snap peas and about one quarter of a chicken breast, finely sliced. I added a dozen mustard seeds, and two small diced cloves of garlic, plus some chicken stock. 

Cooked slowly for two hours. Mash a little before serving. 

 

Christmas Lunch with Chicken

A stripped down Christmas lunch for 2020. Brussels sprouts cooked for about seven or eight minutes in a steamer, roast potatoes, pork sausages wrapped in bacon (pigs in blankets), boiled carrots and parsnips, a whole chicken breast roasted for thirty minutes in a lidded casserole dish, then for another fifteen minutes without the lid (judge by eye). The pork and bacon sausages could have been cooked along with the pork, but I did them separately since the sausages cook in half the time the chicken takes. Doing them separately means you don't have to stand around the hob the whole time, watching progress. 

A gravy was made  with the stock from the boiled carrots and parsnip, with chicken stock and some cornflour, plus a pinch of sage. The chicken breast was dressed in a pinch of coriander leaf. 

What did I skip this year? Chestnut stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I used no onions at all (those would have been a component in the pork and chestnut stuffing). 

As I've said before, the trick is to have all the ingredients ready at the same time. The entire dish was prepared by lunchtime on Christmas Eve, put into the fridge overnight, and reheated in a casserole dish the next day. 

I've discussed the making of good roast potatoes here. 

Sea Bass Fillets

A simple dish of two boneless fillets of Sea Bass, served with boiled semi-peeled Charlotte potatoes. The fillets were cooked in 15 mls of sunflower oil in a flat pan at a medium heat. 5 minutes on each side, starting with the side with the fish skin. Served with a dusting of dried Tarragon, and some white pepper.  

I've had this dish around Europe, but rarely  in the UK. The fillets were bought from Aldi, but Sainsbury's also sells Sea Bass fillets. 

 

Spaghetti Bolognese with Cheese

Fabulous dish, though not authentically Italian, as I've mentioned before.The ground beef was browned in sunflower oil, and then simmered under glass for an hour or so, with the addition of some boiling water and tomato puree. During which time the vegetables were added (diced). Plus diced garlic, and some dried chilli peppers.  

The spaghetti (wheat free) was cooked separately, with some salt for fifteen minutes, stirred frequently. 

Once the dish was served, the cheese was added as a garnish. I used cheddar. Use your favourite. Add white pepper. Delicious!

 

Fig, Date and Cashew Salad

Fruit salad made with diced fresh figs from Sainsbury's, stoned Deglet Nour dates, unsalted cashews, mixed in a Greek yoghurt. Two minutes to prepare, and delicious! Works well also with almonds instead of cashews. Also good with a dash of cinnamon. 

 

Lorne Sausage and Roasted Parsnips

 A simple dish of Lorne Sausage (a Scottish favourite, also known as 'square sausage'), with chipped parsnips, fried baby plum tomatoes, and raw spinach. 

The sausage was slow-cooked in a little sunflower oil for twenty minutes, mostly under glass, along with the chopped baby plum tomatoes. Turned once. 

The chipped parsnips were dressed in tomato ketchup, sunflower oil, and vinegar, plus the herbs oregano, basil, and coriander leaf. Also some ground white pepper. Grilled for about fifteen minutes (judge progress by eye). 

Curried Singapore Fried Noodle with King Prawns

A favourite dish from student days, when we used to hop on a bus to Chinatown in London, to have Singapore fried noodles at Wong Ki's restaurant (Gerrard Street). 

This variant of the dish uses curried noodles from Sainsbury's. The Vietnamese king prawns (also from Sainsbury's) were cooked for a couple of minutes in a little sunflower oil. The vegetables were cooked first for about four minutes at a high heat - diced red pepper (one third of one pepper), one diced spring onion, some chopped root ginger, and two cloves of garlic. No chilli this time. 

I added the noodles to a wok containing the stirfried vegetables, and mixed them together. Cooked in two and a half minutes, stirring often. I then added the king prawns. Decanted to a serving plate, and dressed in a medium dark soy sauce. 

 

Ham Hock with Peppers, Spinach and Rice

The first dish I made with the ham hock was a soup. Once it had cooled in the pan, I removed most of the fat from the suface, and spooned out some of the meat and vegetables (peas, leek and carrot). I added them to a flat pan with some lightly fried red and orange pepper strips, cooked in olive oil. Then I added two handfuls of undiced spinach leaves. Plus two squirts of tomato puree, and 200 mls of boiling water. 

The dish was allowed to simmer under glass for half an hour, after which the spinach shrivels (as it does). 

Served with basmati rice cooked in slightly salted water, and a little sage mixed through.