I also bashed out some potato and leek soup, a MASSIVE lasagne and a ton of chicken stock. Having a few big meals that last for a couple of days apiece should go down well in a week where I have to be away from home for a couple of nights. Doing all the work today should mean that the evenings should be fast and easy but more importantly, chockablock full of veg. I say should because no diggerty doubt, life never, ever gives you what you expect!
The main deal was the roast chicken today.
My version is about as simple as you're going to get, but I've discovered that simplicity means there is less to go wrong. There are very similar recipes all over the interwebs and recipe books. Most chefs have a recipe in their repertoire and mine is still in development, if there is one thing to say about a good roast chicken, it's this: gentlemen/ladies/children of all ages, if you only learn to cook one thing, it should be a chicken. A soft, juicy chicken with crispy skin is a thing of beauty and guaranteed to charm the lady/gentleman/target of your choice so long as they are not a vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian/weirdo.
Start off with a high welfare chicken if possible, these are usually more expensive but I picked up the pictured bird from Aldi yesterday for a fiver. A fiver!! It was 1.5kg and showed all the right claims; British raised, free range etc. so I thought there was no reason not to give it a go. I always cut the string off the legs and unfold the wings, my logic is that the heat will have a better opportunity to circulate through the bird rather than creating a very dense chicken brick in the middle of the oven. Then I stuff half a lemon up it's jacksie and lie it on a bed of salted and oiled chopped carrot and onion. Usually I would insert sliced garlic into the breast and legs of the bird and also throw some cloves in the pan to roast but as garlic is such a fought for commodity at the moment, I didn't want to run out towards the end of the week.
Rub the skin with oil, salt and pepper in that order, get the oven going at about 160 and throw that bad boy in. You can forget about it for a couple of hours.
Next you need to prep your potatoes. It's taken me years to realise that your potato timing is the single most important thing in a roast dinner, so make it as easy as possible. Par-boil your potatoes now (that is boil until almost cooked through but not quite) while you're not doing anything else, then drain and but them back in the pot with the lid on. They can cool off on the side while you prep the rest of your veg:
I chopped a load of leek for today and the soup we were having for lunches this week before sweating them down in a bit of butter:
Once coated in the butter, turn down the heat and put the lid on, they will keep themselves happy for the next 30 mins or so. I took out half for the soup and kept the rest warm in the saucepan ready for serving.
So, lets recap - Chicken has been in for a couple of hours, potatoes are boiled and the veg is ready to go. We're about an hour from serving and this is when some people start to crumble, but not us. Oh no, we're all over this.
Next step: turn up the oven to the max and put in your oiled roast potato tray. When the chicken skin is crisp and almost irresistible, take it out to stand on the side. I put foil over the top with a tea towel to make sure it doesn't go cold.
Then, take out the tray and carefully dunk the potatoes into the hot oil, I put my tray over a gas hob to make sure that thing keeps at the top of the heat scale. It should sizzle and bubble like a goldfish on speed:
Into the oven they go to transform into golden, crispy and delicious nuggets of joy. Righto, so now you've got a chicken and tray of veg with chickeny bits:
The chicken is all good so remove the veg into a serving bowl and put the tray on the hob to start the gravy. Extra water, some flour to thicken and suck up the excess fat and reduce that sucka down as far as you want. Mrs P and I often almost come to blows when it comes to gravy, but I mostly like to think that it's a part of our relationship that only rarely is strained to absolute breaking point. At least, as rarely as we make gravy... *
Aaaanyway, throw some spinach into the leeks right at the last minute:
Whip out the roasties:
And enjoy with a happy family :-)
Maybe I can afford a glass of wine next week - you never know!
But! The very best thing about cooking lunch alongside dinner for the rest of the week is that there was almost no wastage. The left over veg went straight into the soup for lunches and the chicken bones are going to make a stock that will put last weeks to shame. Using everything possible has meant that we can up the taste and flavour this week which, I can't lie, will be very welcome!
Now to enjoy some crackers and cheese for tea!
* I suspect she'll demand that I post the 'correct' way of making gravy on here before too long, which won't necessarily be a bad thing.
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