Garlic Chicken

Garlic Chicken
Chicken cooked with bay, garlic and sherry
I can't claim this delicious recipe it is taken from the Moro Cookbook and it is just wonderful hence its inclusion here

Serves 4
Ingredients:

1 medium chicken jointed into 8 pieces. Keep the skin on the breast and wings and remove skin from legs and thighs.
4 tbs olive oil
2 garlic bulbs, cloves separated and skins on.
6 fresh bay leaves
200ml of fino sherry or dry white wine
100ml of water
Salt & pepper

Method:
Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place large frying pan or shallow casserole over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the garlic and fry until the garlic turns golden brown. This may take 10 minutes or so. Remove the garlic from the pan and set aside.
Now add the chicken pieces and fry until well browned on all sides.
Return the garlic to the pan along with the bay leaves and pour in the sherry or wine (I prefer sherry for a more intense flavour) As you add the sherry shake the pan to ensure you emulsify the oil and the sherry. Simmer for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Stir in the water, cover with a lid and cook until the chicken is cooked through
You may want to remove the breast meat part way through to prevent it becoming over cooked and return to the pan just to heat through.
I like to finish off under a grill to get a golden crisp skin to the chicken

Serve with good quality bread of your choice to mop the juices.
Notes:
Keep an eye on the liquid level whilst cooking! Do not allow to dry out you may need to add a little water.

Wine:
Serve with a Palamino Fino Sherry or whit wine such as Albarino (Rias Baixas)

Indulgent Cannelloni

Indulgent Cannelloni
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb mince beef
2oz pancetta or un-smoked streaky bacon
1 onion skinned and finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
¼ pint of red wine
2 egg yolks
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
8oz ricotta cheese
20z grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
2 pints béchamel sauce
About 20 cannelloni tubes

Béchamel sauce (this makes 2 pints)
2 pints whole milk
2 bay leafs
3 pepper corns
½ stick celery
40z plain flour
Pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Method
Melt the butter in a pan add a couple tablespoons of olive oil add the onion and fry for about five minutes. The onion should be soft but not coloured. Add the pancetta or bacon and cook for another couple of minutes.

Turn up the heat and add the mince beef. Cook until well browned and break down any lumps. Remember you need to stuff the cannelloni tubes with this!

Stir in the tomato puree and red wine. Continue cooking and stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Now turn off the heat and set the pan aside to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Mix together the meat, egg yolks, ricotta and nutmeg and 1oz of the parmesan cheese.

Pour just under half of the béchamel sauce into a shallow ovenproof dish. The dish needs to be big enough to take the cannelloni in a single layer.

With a spoon fill the cannelloni tubes with the meat mixture. Lay them in the dish side by side. When all the tubes are filed or like me you run out of space in your dish cover the tubes with the remaining béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and if you wish to go completely over the top you could add an ounce or so of ricotta to the top with the parmesan. Bake in the oven at 200°C (400f) for about 20 minutes. It will be a wonderful golden brown on top.

Serve with a crisp green salad.

Wine choice
A Chianti Classico

Béchamel Sauce
Put the milk along with the bay leaves, celery and peppercorns in a saucepan and slowly bring to just below a boil. Turn off the heat and leave to cool for about 10-15 minutes. This allows the milk to be infused with the bay, celery and pepper.

Melt the butter in a separate saucepan. Add the flour and stir to combine with the butter to form a stiff paste and cook on a low heat for about two minutes. Don’t let the paste (roux) brown. Turn off the heat.

Discard the bay, celery and peppercorns from the milk. A little at a time slowly blend the milk with the roux. Ensure each addition of milk if fully blended before adding the next. Keep adding a little at a time and stirring until all the milk is added. If you have any lumps and I’m sure you won’t then pass through a sieve.

Return to the heat and bring slowly to the boil stirring all the time until the sauce thickens. Simmer gently for about two minutes add the nutmeg and check for seasoning.

BBQ Chicken & Chorizo Kebabs

BBQ Chicken & Chorizo Kebabs

Serves 3
Ingredients:

9 chicken thighs skinned and boned. Cut into large pieces
1 lemon juices
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp sweet paprika or sweet smoked paprika
4 tbs olive oil.
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
9 mini fresh chorizo sausage cut into half. If you can’t find fresh chorizo then improvise with dried chorizo or English sausages

Method:
Combine the chicken with all of the above ingredients (except the chorizo) in a bowl and leave to marinate for at least an hour.

Thread the kebab skewers with chicken and pieces of chorizo

I do not propose to tell you how long to cook the kebabs for. There are too many variances for me to accurately gauge your own cooking time. It will depend on the barbecue you are using whether gas or coals or wood, height from the cooking surface, wind etc. The kebabs do not take long to cook. Mine were cooked for about 10 – 15 minutes over a lump wood charcoal barbecue.

Serve on a platter and finish with a squeeze or lime juice

BBQ Quail

BBQ Quail


Whilst in the butchers I saw a packet of four Quail and being one for buying on impulse that is exactly what I did, purchase the four Quail. All I had to do now was work out how I wanted to cook them. I had planned a BBQ that evening and intended to cook chicken and chorizo kebabs. The Quail would now supplement those kebabs.

For the Chicken and Chorizo kebabs recipe see below.

Serves 2
Ingredients:

4 Quail
1 large orange
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp sweet paprika or sweet smoked paprika
1 ½ tbs light soy sauce
4 tbs Olive oil. (a good slug will do)
½ tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp Tuscan herb mix (see note)
1 tsp salt
6 fresh chorizo sausage cut into 1” length (dried chorizo / or very good quality English sausage or even small tomatoes.
(See building the skewers below)


Note:
The Tuscan herb mix is a dry herb mix. It is a nice warm blend of Fennel, Marjoram, Basil, Oregano, Lemon Thyme and Bay. It is great for slow-cooked meat dishes. It is available from The Spice Shop, Portobello Road Market (0207 221 4448). If you can’t find Tuscan herb mix improvise with your own mix of dry herbs


Method:

Prepare the Quail by removing the wings completely with a sharp knife taking care not to damage the breast meat. Remove the tips of the legs.

Prepare the marinade:
Grate the zest from the orange into a large bowl. Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice from the orange into the bowl with the zest. Cut each half of the squeezed orange into three pieces and place in the bowl. Add the garlic granules, sweet paprika or sweet smoked paprika, light soy sauce, olive oil, cayenne pepper, Tuscan herb mix, salt to the bowl. Place the prepared quail in the bowl and mix well with your hands to ensure the birds are well covered with the marinade both inside and out.

Leave to marinade for at least 1 hour longer if possible.

Building the Skewers:
The marinated quail are then threaded on kebab skewers. I cooked all of my quail on one long skewer. How many quail you have to a skewer will depend on the length of skewers you have available and the size of your barbecue cooking area.

Take the skewer and firstly thread an orange slice onto the skewer. Next thread a slice of chorizo sausage, small piece of English sausage or even a small tomato on to the skewer and push down onto the orange piece. Now thread the quail onto the skewer with the open cavity of the bird facing the orange segment (neck of bird furthest from the orange piece) You should now find the chorizo, tomato or whatever you are using acts as a bump stop between the cavity of the bird and the orange piece. It does not matter if the chorizo slides into the cavity of the bird.

Now add another segment of orange skin, then chorizo and quail repeating the process as described above. You will be left with a skewer of alternating orange / chorizo / quail.

You are now ready to barbecue your quail. I do not propose to tell you how long to cook the quail for. There are too many variances for me to accurately gauge your own cooking time. It will depend on the barbecue you are using whether gas or coals or wood, height from the cooking surface, wind etc. Quail do not take long to cook. They are a game bird and are very lean and can dry out if over cooked. My quail were cooked for about 10 – 15 minutes over a lump wood charcoal barbecue.

Finally do not try and eat your succulent barbecue quail with a knife and fork. Once cooled a little they are best enjoyed eaten with you fingers.

Easy Thai Style Chicken Curry

Easy Thai Style Chicken Curry
This is truly a delicious curry it is very easy to make. You don’t need a whole long list of Thai ingredients to make a great Thai style curry.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1lb chicken thigh meat after bones and skin removed. Roughly diced.
2tbs oil
1 onion thinly sliced
3 or 4 waxy potatoes peeled, quartered and rinsed
3 cloves garlic crushed or chopped
1 1/2” fresh root ginger peeled and finely chopped
2tbs Sambal Oelek
2tsp Tamarind paste
5 or 6 Kaffir lime leaves
1pt coconut milk
1tsp of Jaggery (Palm Sugar)
1tbs Fish Sauce

Method:

1. Heat a heavy based pan and add the oil, then the onion. Fry onion until soft then add the garlic and ginger.

2. Add the diced chicken and cook over a high heat until the chicken is browned.

3. Now add the Sambal Oelek, Tamarind paste heat through for a couple of minutes. Add the coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves and palm sugar.

4. Add the potatoes. Bring to the boil. Then simmer for at least an hour preferably 1 1/2hours or longer. I cook mine for about 2 hours. The potatoes should be squidgy soft.

5. The fat will separate from the coconut milk after an hour or so. I always prefer to spoon off the fat that collects on the surface.

6. You are aiming to get a thick rich reduced sauce that clings to the chicken and potatoes.

7. Garnish with the chopped coriander leave and a whole red chilli.

Notes:
Sambal Oelek is a chilli based spice paste available from Thai supermarkets. If you can’t find any try a little sweet chilli sauce instead

Kaffir Lime leaves keep well in the freezer. I always have some handy. If you can’t obtain any from your Thai supermarket then improvise with a little lime zest and juice.

You could easily substitute lamb for chicken.

You can always add more fresh chilli if you wish to suit your own taste.

Serve with sticky white rice