Empire Roast Chicken

I stuck my hand in a chicken!  I repeat: I stuck my hand in a chicken!!  Ew....

Marinade for chicken: grated garlic, ginger and red chili (The market didn't have red chilies so I bought a poblano pepper.  Not as spicy but still yummy!); tomato puree, ground coriander, tumeric, garam masala cumin, yoghurt (I used sour cream),  2 lemons and sea salt.

Mix all the ingredients up and massage it into the chicken.  Before I did this I had to have Matt cut the neck off the chicken.  Oh my ew....

The smell from the marinade was amazing.  It made my fridge smell great!  I let the marinade sit for about 7 hours.

Clean up a bunch of potatoes and cut the bigger ones in half.  Par boil and throw a whole lemon in the water.  Once the potatoes are done pierce the lemon a few times and put it into the chicken.

Get the oven going at 400 F and arrange the shelves so the roasting pan is at the bottom, chicken in the middle and potatoes on top.

For the gravy (this goes in roasting pan at bottom of oven): 1 cinnamon stick, onions (forgot to include in pic), cloves, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire, flour and chicken stock.

Drain the potatoes and let them steam dry.  The mix with salt, pepper, olive oil, garam masala, tumeric, a halved bulb of garlic, red chili (again, used the poblano pepper), 2 diced tomatoes and fresh cilantro.  Give the potatoes a toss with this concoction and I tell you what, you will think you died and went to heaven.  This smelled so stinking good!

Pop the lemon inside the chicken and place it on the middle rack directly above the roasting pan.  Bake the chicken for 90 minutes.  Once the chicken has been in for 40 minutes, put the potatoes on the top shelf and let those go the duration of the chicken timer.  Pull everything out and oh my was this yummy!  The gravy burned to a crisp however, so I'm not sure what I did wrong there.  The bird and potatoes were great though!

Mission Impossible: Finding fresh prawns

I'm not sure why I'm having such a time finding fresh prawns for the shrimp cocktail recipe.  There is a fish market nearby that I'd like to hit up and see if they have any but who knew this would be so tough!  If I can't find any maybe I'll beg my sister in Florida to ship me some :)  I'll move on to New British Classics: Empire Roast Chicken if this fish market doesn't have any.  The Empire Chicken sounds amazing!  Not sure how I feel about sticking my hand in a dead chicken to get the marinade in there but I'll tough it out...or beg Matt, ha!

Baby Yorkshire Puds with Creamy Smoked Trout & Horseradish Pate'

When I first read creamy smoked trout I will admit I just about threw up in my mouth.  I was picturing this sloppy runny mess.... not all what it turned out to be!  From now on I will picture "trouty lemony horseradishy cheese ball!"

First I had to hunt down some smoked trout but I did finally find some at more of a specialty supermarket.  After I picked my jaw up from the ground when I looked at the price tag I headed home with fish in hand...

Put about 2/3 of a normal size tub of cream cheese in a bowl and give it a stir with the zest and juice of half a lemon, a few heaped teaspoons of horseradish, most of the chopped chives and salt and pepper.  I assume this would have been easier had my cream cheese been room temperature but patience is a virtue I'm still on working on... haha.  Taste it to make sure it slaps you in the face enough.  This mixture should really have a smoky, salty, hot kick to it because the trout will mellow it out later.

I wasn't ready for the trout to be such an orange color but it smelled fantastic when we opened the package so I was thinking at least we were off to a good start.  The recipe didn't say to heat the fish in a frying pan but the thought of trying to flake cold fish grossed me out for some reason so I enlisted Matt to man the fish station as I kept going with the creamy part of the dish.

Once the skin and any remaining bones are removed, flake the fish into different size pieces and fold it in with a spatula.  Through some plastic wrap over it and let it chill out in the fridge (get it? chill out... ok maybe that was a little dumb :oP) while you get the Yorkies started.

This was waayyy easier than I thought it would be. Before you even get busy with the batter put a thin layer of vegetable oil in the bottom of each mini muffin well (makes about 16) and put this in an oven that's been preheated to full whack. (I think that's one of my fav Jamie-isms) You want that oil so hot it's smoking.  Meanwhile, whisk a couple of eggs, milk, flour and a pinch of salt until it's pretty fluffy.  I got my trusty hand mixer out because my arm got tired after a while.  That thing is hilarious, it has two speeds... turbo and fling everything EVERYWHERE!  I decided turbo would work best for this.  

Once your oil is smoking hot quickly pour the batter almost to the top in each well and pop that back in the oven for about 12 minutes or until golden and fluffy.

Plate that baby up and garnish with the rest of the chives and you've got one heck of a great snack.  

I added a little more fish than the recipe called for but I just didn't want to waste any.  I will never assume the worst when it comes to "creamy" fish of any kind again!

Baby Broad Bean Salad

This great little salad has summer written all over it.  What a refreshing bite on a February afternoon!

The recipe called for broad beans but since those are no where to be found in Michigan in the winter I used sugar snap peas instead.  Diagonally chop a large handful into small pieces and throw them in a smallish bowl.  Slice one red apple (again I used Pink Lady) into matchsticks and toss those in the bowl as well.  Finely slice some fresh mint and toss will the veg and apple.  Season with salt and pepper and squeeze the juice of one lemon into the bowl.  Add a few glugs of extra virgin olive oil and give it a good toss around with your hands.  The recipe also calls for Lancashire cheese, but I could not find this anywhere.  Instead I cut nuggets of Havarti cheese and added it to the bowl.  That's it!  I loved this salad and will definitely be making this one again.

I decided to make a list of things to try when Matt and I finally make it over the big pond... broad beans and Lancashire cheese are 1 & 2 on that list.

Pub Grub is the next section... Baby Yorkshire Puds with Creamy Smoked Trout is next and My Prawn Cocktail is on deck!

Apple & Watercress Salad

This was so easy to make!!  My mom and I surprisingly were able to get the apples pretty thin without using a mandolin or the food processor.  I used one Pink Lady Apple and one Jonagold.  For some reason the Jonagold didn't have a whole lot of flavor but i think the dressing made up for that!

For the dressing you throw one trimmed roughly chopped green onion, 1/3 container blue cheese crumbles, natural yoghurt (I had some sour cream kicking around in the fridge so I just used that), cider vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper into a food processor and waz that up until it's smooth.  

 Add some crushed walnuts and washed watercress to the salad bowl and you're all set.  I put a squeeze of lemon into the bowl as well just to keep the apples from turning brown.

I had never tried watercress before and I was surprised by the lack of flavor.  I thought for sure it would have more flavor than it did but now I can see how it would be a good add-in nutritionally without really changing the taste of the salad you're making.  The apples and the dressing were definitely the stars of the show!