Chickenfest.

I decided an early visit to the butchers was in order.  At 8am prompt I was duly ordering my goods:  minced chicken, 6 chicken thighs, 6 sausages (2 chorizo ones, on order by my 4 year old) and some diced lamb (for a casserole for my 1 year old).

Nothing new to see here, I'm afraid, as I made 2 of my favourite chicken dishes - chicken tikka (with the thighs) and spicy chicken burgers (with the mince).  

The thighs are cooked on maximum temperature in the oven for 25 minutes, and the patties are seared on a griddle, about 3 minutes each side.

Chicken Tikka

 Some people like to add red/yellow food colouring to this, but I see no benefit from smothering something in e-numbers.  It looks tasty enough as it is.

 The delicious chicken patties were flavoured with paprika, a little chilli powder and a generous addition of fresh chopped parsley.  I served them in pitta breads with salad and mayonnaise.

Surbiton-fried Chicken.

I think I can honestly count on one finger the amount of times I have been to a certain fried-chicken establishment from Kentucky.  I think I can even recall the exact day.  It was after I came back from the US, ironically enough, and was jet lagged and couldn't be bothered to cook.  The bucket of chicken and wobbly fries that we procured obviously did not enthuse us enough to motivate our return within the last 7 years.  If I want a crunchy-coated spiced chicken breast I make it myself.

This particular coating does not draw inspiration from the deep South, rather it is actually more European - though I'm not sure where in Europe! I guess it's closest to a parmigiana - the chicken dish they make in Southern Italy.

Crunchy Surbiton-fried Chicken

•   Make some breadcrumbs.  Panko are great if you have them, but honestly, you can just blitz some old white bread in a blender.  I used the hollowed-out remaining 15cm of a stale baguette.
•   Put the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl.  Season with salt and lots of black pepper.
•   Finely grate some parmigiano cheese (I had a typical triangle of it and grated about 3cm thickness off).  Add to the breadcrumbs and mix.
•   Add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Mix.
•   Add a pinch of dried oregano.  Mix.
•   Beat an egg.  Put in a shallow bowl.
•   Take a fistful of flour.  Put in a separate shall bowl.
•   Cut your breast of chicken lengthways through the grain to create two thin escalopes.
•   Dip one into flour, then egg, then the breadcrumbs.  Make sure it's nicely coated.  Repeat for the second breast.
•   Heat some olive oil in a pan.  When it's nice and hot add the breaded escalopes.  Cook for 4 minutes each side.  Don't be tempted to turn, you need a crust to form.
•   It's entirely likely your breasts are cooked through and ready to eat.  Mine was rather thick, though, so I heated an oven to 180C and finished it inside for 10 minutes.
•   Don't overcook! 

I made a simple salad of lollo rosso lettuce, grated carrot, finely sliced raw fennel (bulb not flowering top) and fresh tomatoes.  I made a punchy vinaigrette using English mustard.  This goes really well with the chicken and salad.  

I feel like tikka tonight!

Those of you familiar with the extremely annoying 1990's advert for "Chicken Tonight" will recognize the pun on today's title.  If you were lucky enough to have escaped seeing this "epic" piece of American mass-consumerism apocalyptic advertising then you may wish to look away now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GdiNk3-IPE 

My parents went on holiday on Monday, so they emptied the fridge.  The end result of this was I find myself with a cucumber, some unwashed rocket, 3 chicken breasts and some ham.  The ham, it turns out, has been opened for over 3 days, and despite the packaging's attempt to alert the oblivious owner that eating it after this period is unsafe, my mother insisted they continue to eat ham after it has been opened for more than a week.  How they have not suffered a serious weekly episode of campylobacter I have no idea. 

Back on track.  So Monday afternoon I marinaded the chicken in the usual assortment of goodies.  The recipe for this can be found here

http://swlsk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/by-fair-means-or-fowl.html

I kept the chicken in the fridge marinading for 24 hours, and true to the famous statement "it did exactly what it said on the tin" the flavours were definitely enhanced.  I could actually tell the difference from marinading for 5 hours (previous attempt) and last night with 24 hours.  The flavours were more intense, and certainly you could detect the lemon and garlic flavours more readily.

Marinaded, pre-cooked, chicken tikka

I heated my oven (fan-assisted) to 200 Celcius and cooked the chicken for 20 minutes.  In reality this turned out to be ever so slightly too long.  The situation can be rescued by finely slicing and dicing the chicken.  I would recommend only 15 minutes @200C and checking to make sure is not overcooked (or indeed undercooked).

Slice n Dice

I served the chicken in large pitta breads, with the washed and dried rocket, some mayo and in my case a modicum of different chutneys mixed into condiment oblivion.

4 meals with one bird.

Times are hard, they say, "there's a recession on", a global, economic downturn.  Here, in England, in our little esoteric land, we have decided it is time to put 20% VAT on hot pasties, but none on cold pasties (as a hot pasty is designated a meal and therefore subject to restaurant takeaway VAT).  A tin of tuna (yes, I know, I should check if it's line-caught) is well over a pound now, and the other day, in London I saw an artisan bakery punting loafs of organic sourdough for 6 quid.

You might recall I bought a whole chicken on Tuesday?  It has now made 3 meals (1 x chicken tikka in pitta bread and 2 x chicken makhani).  I still have well over a litre of decent chicken stock too, and this no doubt, will end up as a soup or risotto.  That's not bad for a 6 quid bird!

Last night was definitely a rehash, but it was delicious!  We had a banquet of butter chicken, egg-fried turmeric rice and I made some fresh naan bread:

Chicken Makhani

A lot of people find they have problems when making egg-fried rice - finding it sticks, or dissipates in the pan, ending up as some amorphous mush.  As long as you have cooked the rice correctly in the first place, and here's the secret - allowed it to cool to fridge temperature - it is facile and elementary.  Here's how I make the rice:

Turmeric egg-fried rice

•   As usual, I eyeball how much rice I need.  I washed it twice to remove as much residual starch as possible.
•  I fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the rice with approximately 1cm excess water.
•  I put 1 teaspoon of powdered turmeric in.
•  Put the heat on medium-high.
•  After 8 or 9 minutes check it.  If you think to yourself "it's not quite ready", turn off the heat.
•  Drain the rice into a sieve and set it over a pan.  Put the saucepan cover on top of the sieve to make a subtle seal.
•  Let it steam like this for 3 minutes.  
•  Remove the saucepan lid and fork to fluff up!

Now, egg-fried rice doesn't sound massively compatible with Indian food, but really it is.  I have to confess the idea stems from my partner - she always would order egg-fried rice from a takeaway menu.  At first I thought the idea reproachable, but honestly it works.

•  When the rice has cooled down, refrigerate it until it is cold.
•  Line a wok, or a karahi pan with some neutral oil - not much, just a teaspoon.
•  Heat the wok on a high heat.
•  Mix an egg and beat it together in a cup.
•  Throw the rice into the wok when it is nice and hot.
•  Stir fry for 30 seconds.
•  Add the egg and stir vigourously.
•  When the rice is heated and the egg is cooked (2-3 minutes) it is ready.

I served this platter with a home made naan bread.

Chicken Makhani, Turmeric egg-fried rice and naan

I wonder if it is possible to make a decent naan bread, at home, without the luxury of a tandoor?  I can make a palatable bread, but in all honesty it does not resemble, or taste like a naan.  My gut feeling is that you cannot - it needs the roaring rasp of a proper tandoor to get it to bubble and crisp on the outside, but retain a hot, steamy and doughy interior.

Home-made naan bread

A quick precis of what I did is this:   I made a dough with flour, yeast, oil, salt and warm milk.  It rose, and doubled in size.  I knocked it back.  I preheated the oven and grill to maximum and put a thick baking tray in to heat it up.  I shaped my naan and then slapped it onto the hot tray.  3 minutes at 240C, then 30 seconds under the grill.

As I say, they tasted nice, but nowhere near an approximation of a naan bread.  

If any of you have a better recipe and method I'd be very intrigued to hear it.

By fair means or fowl.

After a two week abstinence, we finally made it to the supermarket yesterday.  The trolley was 3/4 full by the time we made it to the groceries, due to much buying of nappies, baby-wipes, baby food, toilet cleaner and other sundry items of a non-edible nature.  This, of course, left little room for the things I like - food.  Before we set off I mentally prepared myself for a two day curry marathon - my partner was going out on the razz two nights on the trot.  

I decided that I would try my hand at chicken tikka, followed, the day after by chicken makhani (or butter chicken, as it is often known).  This means I could buy a whole chicken, joint it, marinade, roast then use the left over tikka to make the makhani on the Wednesday night.  I have jointed a whole chicken before, but I confess to using what might be termed as a "slash and burn" approach - i.e an industrial-sized Global cleaver.  This works but it's a bit messy.  I decided to watch Dhruv Baker joint a chicken on a Waitrose endorsed video (you can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYmoRg_vcmE ).  It was actually excellent and I can now say I am an expert jointer of chickens.

The tikka itself is fairly simple - you just need some time to marinade.  Madhur Jaffrey advises you to take at least 6 hours, but I decided to go with a measly 4 hours.  Just out of interest, as you might know, I love etymology, the word tikka comes from the hindi word, "tukra" which means pieces.  So in fact a tikka is nothing about how you cook it, more so how you prepare your chicken. 

I took a picture this morning of the residual chicken that I will make my makhani tonight with:

Chicken Tikka 

•   I used a whole chicken weighing approximately 2kg.  I jointed it into wings, thighs, drums and breasts.  The carcass and wing tips were used to make a stock (for a separate, unrelated dish).  The joints were gashed, not too deeply with a knife.
  
•  The joints were placed into a bowl, salted with a pinch of sea salt and covered with the juice of a lemon.  I mixed the juice and salt into the chicken pieces.  Leave for 30 minutes.
•   In a mini-blender add 3 small, hot green chilli's, 4cm of peeled, roughly chopped fresh ginger, 4 peeled cloves of garlic, a small onion, roughly chopped, a heaped teaspoon of regular paprika (for colour) and 2 teaspoons of garam masala.  Blend to a smooth paste.  I simply refuse to use food colourings in anything I cook, and this is no exception. 
•   Mix the paste into 500g of full-fat yoghurt.
•   Pour the paste over the chicken.  Cover and refrigerate for >3 hours.  Overnight is best, but I scrimped with 4 hours and it was fine.
•   Heat your oven to 220C.
•   Take a large baking tray, line it with aluminium foil.  
•   Shake off as much as the marinade as you can from the chicken pieces and place on the tray.
•   Cook for 20-25 minutes.

I ate the chicken tikka in pitta breads with a shredded, green lettuce, some mayo and mango chutney. 
 

A bit of a breast man.

That's me - I do like a bit of breast on my bird.  I've never been one to admire the alluring embrace of a thigh - I always found them too stringy and fatty.  The purity of the breast, how gentle you have to be with it and the reward, when you finally sink your teeth into one is unsurpassed.  I can manage a wing though, but only when they have been barbecued.


Cooking chicken breast is not a simple task.  It is deceptive how easy it can be to overcook and massacre a chicken breast - and let's not forget they are not cheap.  I paid nearly 8 quid for 2 breasts in my local butchers yesterday.


Chicken breast is best suited to quick exposure to high heats.  Searing on a griddle, skewering on the barbecue or blackening in a thick-based pan seems to be the best way to cook it.  You can curry it too, but you need to be extremely vigilant from the moment you dunk it into it's sauce.  I have lost count the amount of times I have overcooked my bird in a lal masale wali murgh (chicken in red pepper curry).  It was an education.


Mincing chicken breast is quite an uncommon occurrence outside of the Indian kitchen.  In fact, if my memory serves me correctly it was the Indian mother of a good friend of mine who first introduced me to home Indian cooking, and, in this respect, to minced chicken.  The Indians, and the Pakistani's are rather partial to their keema.  I once ate at a very tasty Pakistani restaurant in Manchester where they served me a hot curry made with a combination of lamb and chicken mince.  Sounds odd, tastes divine.


It is possible to mince chicken at home.  The Chinese method is to use two cleavers, one in each hand, and then gently pummel the breast into minced submission.  If you don't happen to have two cleavers at home (why would you?), then you can use a food blender.  You need to be careful when you use a blender - if you over-whizz it you end up with a chicken toothpaste.  Gentle pulsing until you have the right consistency is the correct method to follow when you use a blender.

Yesterday I had the luxury of a butcher at my dispense.  I asked him to bone me out some spare-ribs, and then to mince me 2 breasts.  I made sticky ribs (recipe has been mentioned before), and some spicy chicken burgers.  Here's how I made them:

Our BBQ yesterday!  Chicken burgers on the right.

Spicy Chicken Burgers

•   300g of minced chicken makes  4 decent-sized burgers. 
•   Add the mince to a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.
•   Add 1 teaspoon of regular paprika.
•   Add half teaspoon of chilli powder.

 

•     Add a good pinch of dried oregano.
•   Form into 4 balls, then, on a clean board, press them down with the heel of your hand to make patties.
•   Refrigerate for 1 hour.
•   When the barbecue is ready paint one side of the burger with olive oil and slap onto the grill.  it should take 4-5 minutes to be nice and golden, like mine above.
•   Whilst the first side is cooking, paint the other side with olive oil too (otherwise you'll get stuck).  Flip when ready.
•   Cook the other side for 4-5 minutes.

I am a bit paranoid with barbecuing - especially when chicken is concerned.  Salmonella does not feature highly on my list of things to do.  I always get a sharp knife and cut into one of the burgers, just to check it is cooked all the way through.

Taking stock of the situation.

I am mulling some idea's around my head as to what I should do with the chicken stock I created from our roasted bird on Sunday.  I think I made about 750ml of quite concentrated chicken stock, with a thick, gelatinous jelly content - this always heralds a good tasting bouillon.

For those of you that discard their chicken carcasses after they have delicately picked all the remaining flesh off, I entreat you to think about utilizing it in future.  It's such a waste to throw away something that can, effectively provide you with a free, second meal.  

Bouillon de poulet a la Noz

Now, I do make a nice stock, but as you can see in the above picture it is a little hazy.  This is probably because I managed to boil the liquid.  Here's how I make my stock:

•   Put the carcass of the chicken into a deep stove-top pan.  
•   Add a bay leaf, 6 or 7 peppercorns 2 unpeeled garlic cloves and and a sprig or two of thyme.
•   Roughly chop one small onion and one small carrot.  Add to the pan.
•   Fill with enough water to cover everything.
•   Bring to a very slow simmer, adjust the heat to very low and allow it to slowly bubble (not boil!) for 2 or so hours - longer if you have the patience.

  
Generally I do a handful of favourites with chicken stock.  I do a great Iranian chicken-ball, cardamom and lime soup (from the Moro book) or a standard chicken or vegetable soup.  Sometimes, if I am feeling adventurous I try something a bit more outlandish like a garlic soup, or a Greek fasolatha.  A risotto always goes down favourably in our household - and this is probably what I will use this stock for.  However, I am out tonight, watching Crystal Palace play Doncaster Rovers, so no cooking for me this evening. 


I will give you my lowdown on how to cook a decent risotto tomorrow. 

A typical, English, Sunday roast

As much as every Englishman's home is his castle, his Sunday roast is his daily bread.  The Sunday roast is part and parcel of the weekend rota and in many households is considered mandatory.  In reality, our family have a roast dinner on a Sunday perhaps once a month - sometimes less.  I do like a roast dinner, but as a weekly occurrence?  No thanks.  God forbid if we ever walk into a pub on a Sunday and see a carvery - this invariably triggers our hasty exit.

Roast chicken is probably our weapon of choice to consume on a Sunday.  The two main motivators for this are that it is a particular favourite of Luca - our 4 year old son, and that we can boil the residual carcass of the bird afterwards to create a tasty stock.  Basically we kill two birds with one stone.  Yesterday I did a roast chicken with thyme and onion gravy served with roasted potatoes, steamed kale and broccoli.  

One thing I wanted to discuss, though, was the totally inept cooking instructions provided by the supermarket (in this case Marks and Spencer).  The bird weighed 1.5kg, and their instruction was for 1.5 hours @ 180C (for fan-assisted oven).  At the 1 hour mark my bird was looking seriously ready, so I checked it by gashing a thigh, which resulted in clear liquid oozing from nicely cooked meat.  I then cut into the breast and it was likewise ready for eating.  I rested it for 15 minutes, and honestly, if I had adhered to the cooking instructions I would have been left with a piece of leather.  Cooking a chicken is an art-form, it is perilously easy to mess-up.  I am always extremely vigilant when cooking a chicken, as 10 minutes over can totally turn your fowl to foul.

I use the cooking technique from Nigel Slater's book, "Real Food".  Here's what you do:

•   Cut 3-4 medium onions into large chunks (each onion into 3 or 4 pieces).  Lay them in a baking tray.
•   Add 4 cloves of garlic to the tray, no need to peel.
•   Add 2 bay leaves to the tray.
•   Strip 4 bushy sprigs of thyme and put the little leaves into the tray.
•   Mix all the ingredients in the tray.  Dot with some knobs of butter and give some serious glugs of olive oil.
•   Stick your bird on top, so that the vegetables act as an organic trestle.
•   Cook your bird as you see fit, don't follow the instructions on the packaging.  
•   Remove the bird from the tray and allow to rest and cool.
•   Use the remaining roasted onions, garlic, herbs and juices to make a nice gravy.