Beer Can Chicken

Did I mention that Mrs. P and I like Jamie Oliver? Well, there we were, watching the latest series when all of a sudden, a chicken appears with a can of beer up the bum. Mr Oliver then proceeded to make a few claims about this method of cooking; for example, it keeps the bird 'mega juicy', and 'fills the meat with beery goodness'. OK so I may be guilty of paraphrasing the mockney geezer here, but it is true that Jamie was caught on camera extolling the virtues of this unusual cooking method.

In fact, I had heard of this type of recipe a year or so ago as it's been around the American BBQ circuit for a while and though it is usually cooked on a smoker, Mrs. P's imagination was fired by the sight of such a beast and I was instructed to go forth and insert.

And insert I did. A dry rub was created and rubbed, the beer was opened and drank and the chicken orifice was stretched and prepared. I'll just let that mental image sink in for a little bit while you look at this picture.

The process was simple - rub on the rub, drink most of the beer but leave about an inch in the bottom of the can then inject the can into the chicken and balance the whole damn thing on a tray. Then stick it in the oven for between one and a half to two hours depending on the size of the thing.

I'll leave you to do it yourself to make up your own mind as to the end result but Mrs. P and I differ slightly in our views. Personally I didn't see any advantage to the beer - but Mrs. P was rather impressed. One thing is for sure - it creates a talking point on the dinner table!

Dry rub - I make no apologies for the volume of sugar in this. Mrs P likes it sweet and I had reason to encourage Mrs P to enjoy the sweetness.

A lot of brown sugar
Some mollasses sugar
A bit of smoked paprika
Some cumin
A good mix of celery salt

Job done.

Jamie’s Italian - Milton Keynes

I like a good bit of Jamie. It’s true that the cheeky chappy,  Laandon geezer personality does grate after a while but there have been very few recipes which have turned out badly. In fact it is his most simple that usually turn out to be the most effective. His type of food is, generally speaking, my kind of food and that’s quite hard to admit because to align myself so much with a ‘celebrity’ chef isn’t very fashionable. But then again, one look and I don’t think anyone could ever accuse me of being fashionable.

Mrs P and I enjoy Jamie’s Italian for several reasons; the most important of which (past the frequently changing menu) is that it’s very child orientated, which for a decent quality high street chain is rare (by which I discount the oceans of culinary sink holes which vie for your hard-earned by claiming they are 'family friendly' by virtue of the fact that they offer a rusty slide in a nettle strewn garden or a BBQ sauce stained picture of a courgette dressed as a cowboy and a couple of broken colouring pencils). Secondly, Jamie's offers large and small plates of the same dishes, this is a great way to have a quick lunch or a decent dinner and is something which I sincerely hope that other establishments follow. It's true that his Italian restaurant vision is a full frontal barrage of Jamie’s television persona, even down to the ‘pucka’ cocktails or the ‘wicked’ specials board. But I encourage you all to look past this, then fight your way through the blatant money grabbing, corporate sell out shop section (you honestly don’t need a set of Jamie’s Italian napkins) and finally please try to ignore the ever-so-slightly-too-happy waiting staff and concentrate on the food.

Speaking of which, I hear you shout at your retina, LCD, OLED or perhaps VGA screens, what did you eat this time?!? Well, feast your eyes on this bad boy:

Sea bass with mussels and tomato, as well as a little bit of chilli, garlic, lemon and capers. Fish on the bone isn’t for everyone and there were a fair few bones to contend with on this occasion but the end result is a beautiful, moist taste of the Mediterranean. The tomatoes were sweet and juicy and they sat nicely alongside the mussels, although Mrs P. and the Child stole three of the little gems before I had a chance to defend my plate.

We see Pizza Express and Jamie’s Italian in a very similar vein closely followed by Carluccios (although that is a bit more pricey when considered £ for £) and unless the corporate requirements totally overwhelm the dining experience we’ll keep on going back. 

www.jamiesitalian.com

Crabs! We've got crabs!

Hands up whose got crabs? Just us then.

Look at that! It's a lovely crabby shellfish frenzy - and a perfect excuse to show The Child how to handle our crustacious cousins. 

In the spirit of interaction (and the fact that neither I nor Mrs P had done one for a few years), we fired up YouTube and found the following link which was an absolutely great step-by-step guide to dealing with a crab when obtained whole:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MPC6gz-wGo

We managed the beast pretty well, it gave up a lot of meat, both white and brown, although The Child couldn't quite understand why we called it brown meat when it was clearly red!

Bashing the shell with a rolling pin was far and away the highlight, but gouging around the head with a chopstick came a gruesome second.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, the resulting crab salad wasn't too popular with either The Child or Mrs P, but I put that down to an afternoon spent elbow deep in shellfish and it's associated ambience which always overtakes the senses when done with as much enthusiasm as is necessary to do such things properly.

Needless to say that with a grind of salt, a good crack of fresh pepper, a flash of lemon, splodge of mayo, and a dusting of cayenne, I hoovered up as much as I could lay my hands on.

Happy days.