Mince Pie topped frozen Greek yoghurt - YUM!

You may recall that, in the Turkey seasonal box from Knorr, were some mince pies.  Not just any old mince pie, but some really very tasty mince pies from Foreman & Field, that are made by pastry chef Michael Nadell.

Now, unusually for us, we hadn't - beyond the first taster - put the kettle on and snarfed the lot accompanied by a number of cups of coffee.  Oh no.  These mince pies demanded a bit more respect than that - and at £16.95 for 12, you can understand why.  So we tucked them up into an airtight container (just like your Mum told you to) and were keeping them for "best".  (Is there a "best", where mince pies are concerned?  We obviously thought so!).

Photo c/o Foreman & Field

The following day - and completely coincidentally - I was contacted by Lianne at W. Communications, the P.R. company I've been working with regarding Barefoot Wines, about another of their clients - the Chillbox Company.

Apparently, Chillbox have a newly opened outlet in Brixton Market (the first, by all accounts) where they are selling Greek frozen yoghurt.  It seems to me to be a spectacularly bad time to open - the middle of winter - when you're selling frozen goods, but who am I to judge?  Maybe the denizens of Brixton Market enjoy some frozen yoghurt after their tub of Paella and before thawing out with mulled wine.  (I have no idea whether paella or mulled wine can be purchased at Brixton Market, but I'll bet they can!).  However, to smooth their way into the Christmas market (see what I did there?), they've come up with a Christmassy mince pie topped version.

So anyway.  I like frozen yoghurt - and I'm particularly fond of Greek yoghurt.  So I was mildly interested but couldn't see any particular relevance to Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger, as the likelihood of my getting to Brixton Market this side of doomsday was fairly negligible.  I couldn't see any samples getting to me in a fit state to test, so it all seemed a bit of a no hoper.  That is, right up until I noticed the words "make at home recipe".

Maybe not as pretty as the Chillbox version - but who cares about pretty when it tastes this good?

AHA!  

The "in store" version is in either natural or chocolate flavour yoghurt with buttery crumbled mince pie, mulled wine sauce with subtle hints of ginger spice and finally, for an extra flourish, some edible 23ct gold leaf.  Frozen yogurt heaven, so they say - and I'm inclined to believe them!

Churn, churn, churn - or you could just freeze & stir every 30 mins!

The "make at home recipe" wasn't anything like as showbiz as the "in store" version, but just the promise of frozen Greek yoghurt - never mind the mince pie input - was enough to spark my interest.  Of course, as soon as I saw the mince pie aspect, I knew I had a potential use for at least a couple of those lovely Michael Nadell pies.

Well, I had every intention of making the frozen yoghurt over the weekend, but one thing led to another and there we were on Monday morning, still with the yoghurt in its pot in the fridge.  So hubby set to and made it.

The recipe is simplicity itself - I've reproduced it below for your delectation - and the end result is yummy, scrummy and feels deliciously naughty.  I have to admit that we made the full-fat version, but I have no doubt that the low fat version would be just as good - particularly if you use a good Greek yoghurt.

Once frozen, the ice crystals are very small and so the yoghurt retains its unctuous creaminess.  The single mince pie that you include with the yoghurt in the mixing stage doesn't look like it will make enough of an impact on the flavour profile - but if you choose a good mince pie (and Sainsbury's are our normal favourite) then the one pie is genuinely all you'll need.

We didn't get all fancy and make a separate sauce - but I think we might for our second go at this dessert, there will be a second go, of that I'm sure!  Something rich, fruity and slightly boozy would be just lush with the frozen yoghurt, I think.  I think we might just pass on the gold leaf, though.  Don't want to get too carried away - anyone would think it's Christmas!

Here's the good bits from the Press Release regarding Chillbox and its products, if anyone is close enough to Brixton Market to want to visit :

"With double the protein, lower carbohydrates and half the sodium, Greek yoghurt is only 124 calories per 100g so there really is no reason not to spoil yourself by picking a festive topping or three!

A standard size Chillbox is £3.75 with an extra two toppings. The 23ct gold topping is charged as an extra cost and not included in the standard topping price.

Chillbox is located at 14 Market Row, Brixton Market, SW9 8LD.  Opening times are Tues 10 – 5pm / Wed - Sun 10 – 10pm.  For Chillbox updates follow us on Twitter - @Chillbox_uk and on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/

Chillbox is the leading frozen yoghurt franchise in Greece.

The Christmas toppings are available up to the 24th December.

Chillbox is not fat free, it contains a low 1.6% fat - not counting toppings.

Chillbox does not contain any chemical additives.
 
Chillbox is sweetened with fructose not sugar, making it slightly more acceptable to diabetics".
 

MINCE PIE TOPPED FROZEN GREEK YOGHURT  (serves 5-6)

Ingredients :

900g Greek Yoghurt (low fat or full fat - your choice)
110g fructose sugar (available from most supermarkets)
125ml milk (again, semi skimmed or full fat - your choice)
1 mince pie to include with the yoghurt
1 mince pie to crumble over.

Method :

1.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients and, once fully incorporated, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to a maximum of 4 hours.

2.  Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and process for 10-12 minutes, until set the the consistency of soft scoop ice cream.

3.  Serve immediately, with mince pie crumbled over the top, or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until ready to use.  In this case, allow the yoghurt to warm up slightly before serving, so as to capitalise on its smooth creaminess.

Printable version

Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon - with thanks to Knorr

So, you know the competition to win a box of ingredients from Knorr (care of Foreman & Field), to make Boeuf Bourguignon?

Well, I received one of these boxes of luscious ingredients a few days ago - and my challenge was to make either the Marco Pierre White recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon that was contained therein, or think of something else I could use the ingredients for.

Now, with all due respect to Marco Pierre White, I've come to feel a little unsettled where his recipes are concerned, as the last two I've tried have been remarkably unsuccessful.  Hence, when I saw that he used the lovely bacon and beautiful wild mushrooms simply as a garnish to the dish, I bridled at the thought.  After all, the flavour of that bacon had to be pretty good, and the wild mushrooms were spankingly good (you could tell just looking at them) - so why reject using those flavours within the dish?  Seemed a bit pretentious to me.  (Sorry Marco!).

I also like to cook beef such as brisket - Welsh brisket, no less! - in the slow cooker, to take advantage of the beautiful flavours that result from long slow cooking.  Marco cooked his Bourguignon on the stovetop and in the oven.

Hence, knowing that I had a tried and tested recipe for Beef Bourguignon on the blog already that I could use as a guide, I decided to go my own way with the dish.  Still make Boeuf Bourguignon - but my way and with Knorr's ingredients.

Brisket all trimmed up and ready to go

So started what was nothing less than a marathon ingredient preparation session.  This dish took me a good two hours to get to the "in the slow cooker" stage - and it wasn't all taken up with peeling tiny shallots.  Oh my god but those flipping tiny shallots are a cook's nightmare - they don't give their outer layers up easily!

Browning the brisket - smelled gorgeous!

Because of the tender nature of the wild mushrooms, I decided not to include them right from the beginning of the slow cooking time, as I didn't want them to disappear into the gravy.  However, because I still wanted that mushroom flavour to be there in the gravy from the word go, I chopped a couple of chestnut mushrooms additionally and added those in with the leek and celery.  This worked perfectly and allowed the wild mushrooms to still be very much in evidence at the end of the cooking time.

Oh no! It's all gone!

Now the red wine that is included in the box is absolutely lovely.  Far too nice to cook with in lots of ways - but then you're only using a glassful - which leaves several more glasses to be enjoyed at your leisure!  The Bolney Estate's 2009 Lychgate Red is an English wine and let me tell you, if it hadn't have come as part of the Knorr box from Foreman & Field, I couldn't have afforded it.

However - with Christmas coming, I know people like to push the boat out a little - and if you're planning on having beef or lamb this Christmas, or just like a beautiful red to eat with cheese - this one is a complete winner.

It has an early sweetness, which is flattened by the tannins that just roll over your tongue but don't threaten to choke you (like so many cheaper wines), with accompanying satisfying fruitiness redolent of plums. It's a bit like drinking a red velvet cushion - if you can imagine that!

I would also really like to know what the Port was that they supplied - as that was pretty darned spectacular too.

 

Just look at those huge pieces of wild mushroom!

So, take all these flavours and cook them long and slow - and you'll have a small idea of just how spectacular this dish turned out to be.

 

That's my kind of Halloween cauldron - full of beef & red wine!

Hubby declared that it was "restaurant quality" - and that doesn't happen often.  Son & heir was transported - apparently - into another world at his first taste of the beef in the gorgeously rich red wine gravy that had been bolstered by the use of the Rich Beef Stock Pot from Knorr.  Those little stock pots are real flavour bombs for when you're cooking beef - I couldn't be without them now.

 

This was the type of meal that all the time you're eating it, you know that what you have on your fork is truly something special.  Every mouthful delivered on flavour in absolute spades - and many different layers of flavour.  Even several hours later, I still knew that I'd eaten what was a spectacular meal.

 

 

I can't recommend that you enter the competition highly enough.  To have the chance of receiving all the ingredients for free and being able to cook this meal again - if I could, I would!

SLOW COOKER BOEUF BOURGUIGNON   (feeds 4-5)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
800g beef brisket, trimmed and cut into chunky cubes
1 onion, chopped small
3 rashers unsmoked back bacon, chopped
1 knob of butter
1 small leek, chopped small
3 small celery sticks, chopped small
2 chestnut mushrooms, chopped finely
6-8 whole round shallots, peeled
a garlic clove, peeled but left whole
a few sprigs of flat leaf parsley, chopped fine
2-3 sprigs of thyme
225ml red wine (1 glass)
125ml port
1 Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot
400ml water
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
200g wild mushrooms (or sliced chestnut mushrooms if no wild are available)
cornflour.

Method :

1.  In a large frying pan, heat the rapeseed oil until smoking and carefully add half of the meat.  Leave to brown, before turning to brown the other side.  The aim of the exercise is to achieve some caramelisation on the cubes, as caramelisation equals flavour!

2.  Place the meat into the slow cooker using a slotted spoon and turn it on to low, replacing the lid.

3.  Place the onion and bacon into the frying pan - do not wipe it clean - and cook on a moderate heat until the bacon fat has rendered and the onion is softened.  Decant into the slow cooker.

4.  Add the knob of butter to the pan and, once it has melted, add the leek, celery and mushroom.  Cook until the vegetables have softened, then add the shallots and garlic clove and continue to cook until the shallots have warmed through.

5.  Add the parsley and stir through, then add the whole lot to the slow cooker, including the thyme sprigs.

6.  Heat the pan on a high heat, then pour in the red wine and the port and allow to frizzle and simmer.  Add the Rich Beef Stock Pot and the water and stir through.  Bring back to a simmer and add a little black pepper.

7.  Decant into the slow cooker and stir gently through.

8.  Turn the slow cooker up to medium, replace the lid and forget about it for the next 2 hours.

9.  At the end of this time, add the wild mushrooms and gently stir through.  Replace the lid and cook for another 2 hours.

10.  At the end of this time, you may need to add a little cornflour to thicken the sauce.  If so, then put two or three heaped teaspoonfuls into a small bowl and add just enough water to get it moving in a runny paste.  Remove the lid of the slow cooker and with a slotted spoon, gently heap the meat and vegetables to one side, creating a pool of sauce.  Add half the cornflour mixture and stir like crazy, but trying not to knock the meat down or you'll land up  breaking up the pieces.  The sauce should begin to thicken and you may not need the other half.  Once the sauce is your favoured consistency, bring the meat & vegetables back down and stir through very gently.

11.  Serve, with mashed potatoes, carrots and savoy cabbage.

Printable version

Win all the ingredients to make Beef Bourguignon!

 COMPETITION HAS CLOSED

As if it's not exciting enough, today I am launching something that doesn't happen very often on Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger - a competition!

All this could be yours!

You could win a wonderful Foreman & Field box that contains all the goodies to make a wonderful Beef Bourguignon - care of Knorr.

In this box, there will be :

800g beef brisket

 200g pearl onions 

unsmoked bacon 

200g wild mushrooms 

½ leek (the white part) 

125ml port

1 celery stick

thyme  

parsley 

Bolney Estate Lychgate Red wine 

Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot

How can you resist?

I've been the happy recipient of a few of these Foreman & Field boxes from Knorr - and I can tell you that they are well worth receiving.

So, what do you have to do, to qualify?

Simply post a comment to this blog, saying you'd like to be included in the competition.  Doesn't get a lot easier than that!

Unfortunately, because of the perishable nature of the goods, the competition is not open to non-U.K. residents.  I'm dreadfully sorry about that - but you wouldn't want a box of rotten ingredients turning up on your doorstep, now would you?

The competition closes at midnight on Sunday 11th November 2012, after which the competition winner will be announced.

Marco Pierre White's Boeuf Bourguignon - you could make this, or do your own thing.

So what are you waiting for?  Come on, get commenting

THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED!

Thank you, everyone, for competing

and very well done to the winner - Caroline from All That I'm Eating!

 

Knorr send us two Poussin to tangle with ... and get in a tangle we did!

I've never cooked a Poussin before, much less two.  Still, how difficult could it be?  After all, a Poussin is only a baby chicken - surely you just reduce everything and add some "awww!".  No?  Oh.

Well, Knorr very kindly sent us the aforesaid two little Poussin, along with some Knorr chicken stock pots, a lemon, some herbs and an odd selection of picnic bits and pieces including two burgers.  They also sent a variety of recipes - one of which was specifically for the Poussin and involved the stock, lemon and herbs (although I have to say, that the lemon and parsley only came into play as garnish).

Now I have got a bit nervous about good old Marco Pierre White's recipes after our complete disaster with his last one (Chicken Chasseur) where the type of chicken did not match the type of recipe.  Although, having said that, this recipe (Spatchcocked Chicken with Chipolatas) seemed simple enough.

We had one problem, though, in that this recipe was for two people - and there are three of us.  So, we decided to split the goodies up and add some bits, cooking the Poussin on the barbecue along with some burgers and with a bowl of couscous and a home made salsa to accompany them.  The remainder of the picnic goodies, we decided to turn into a proper picnic to be enjoyed out on the New Forest somewhere.

At least, that's how it all started.  Somehow - and I'm really not sure how, except for the intervention of bad weather - it didn't finish up that way.

Chipolatas (left) and Burgers (right) - re-invented as meatballs!

The Spatchcocked Poussin wound up being cooked in the oven and son & heir had sausages, plus the burgers which came in the box wound up being made into meatballs along with the chipolatas, to fill some subs for the picnic.

It's quite a long way from the original intention, isn't it.  ~scratches head~  Oh well - it was all very nice, even so!

So, dealing with the picnic first - which shall henceforth be known as the indoor picnic as already mentioned - the star of the show was two foot-long subs made with meatballs from the two burgers and the chipolatas, Maasdam cheese slices and salad - with copious quantities of tomato relish.

Try getting those into your face without losing a meatball!

The burger meat (Welsh beef) was mixed with a Chipotle paste and simply formed into small meatballs.  The chipolatas were taken out of their jackets and the sausagemeat was mixed with a small amount of Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ Sauce before also being formed into small meatballs.  The two types were then baked in the oven until cooked.

All cheesed up and ready for their lids

Hopefully it is needless to say, that we cut the subs in half before trying to manoeuvre them into our faces!  The two types of meatball were great in the sandwich and each had a very definite character of its own - although my favourite has to be the sausagemeat ones.

Knorr had also sent us two little Roasted White Onion Tartlets from Foreman & Field, which at £4.95 for 2 seemed utterly outrageous to me.  Especially considering how soggy and pallid they were - but the flavours were extremely yummy, so I forgave them their price just a little bit.  I'm sure a brief trip through the oven would have cheered up their floppiness, if we'd have had the time.

A really quite superb Scotch egg

The handmade Scotch Eggs purported to be "still soft in the middle" and I can quite categorically confirm that the egg was indeed just that little bit delightfully squishy in the middle.  Mind you, at the brain-fuddling price of £5.95 for the two, I was looking for some gold leaf at least!  Son & heir commented that although he quite liked them, the Scotch Eggs tasted like "posh versions" of themselves, which about says it other than to add that they were one of the nicest Scotch Eggs I've had in a very long time.  But for just short of £3 each?  *snort*  I so don't think so!

I would be so hopeless in Harrods food store.  I'd probably get dragged out of there, crying "HOW MUCH?" and looking aghast.

Just look at the Pimms and the fruit salad - fair makes your mouth water!

Anyway, aside from all that, I made a wonderful fresh fruit salad for dessert using Canteloupe melon, strawberries, mango and pineapple.  With a dash of cream it was juicy lusciousness.

We washed it all down with a beautiful big jug full of Pimms with all the requisite amount of fruit, cucumber and fresh mint floating about amongst many ice cubes.  Mmmmmn, delicious!

Lemon and Herb .......... and Barbecue

So the next day dawned and in the course of the day, the method of cooking for our two Poussin must have changed around three or four times.  Successive changes in the weather and my frame of mind (largely caused by everything we'd tried to do that weekend being blown out the window) meant that by dinnertime, I had had about enough and really didn't care what happened to the blinking Poussin.

Lemon & Herb Poussin - with parsley & rosemary

Earlier in the day, I'd made up the Green Couscous (which is ordinarily gorgeous, but I discovered on this day that it doesn't like being made in advance) and spatchcocked the Poussin, marinading one in the lemon and herbs along with a dash of rapeseed oil and some seasoning - and the other in the aforesaid Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ Sauce so they were all ready to be wrapped in tinfoil and oven baked for 10 minutes or so, before finishing on the barbecue.  Well, the rain took care of the barbecue, so they stayed in the oven.

Consequently, they are a little under coloured but were nice enough.  I don't think I could choose between them as to which one was my favourite, as they were both very different and very nice in their own way.

I was a little disappointed in them though, as I expected the meat to be so much softer, or sweeter, than an ordinary chicken - which it wasn't.  There really wasn't much difference, which makes me wonder why anyone goes to the bother of utilising baby chickens.

However, one thing I will pay attention to - and that is that I won't be cooking Poussin again in a hurry.  Those little rib bones just completely creeped me out!  Who knew they would do that?  Bizarre.

So, you've probably read Chefs saying how cooking can really challenge a person?  Yup.  See above.

Before I go, a quick thank you to Knorr for providing all the above goodies and apologies for not making use of the Knorr Stockpots!  Still, I'm sure they will show up in recipes to come!

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Marco Pierre White's Chicken Chasseur ... oh dear.

My version - doesn't look too bad ..

I - honest, swear to god, hand on heart, scout's honour, the lot - didn't do anything other than follow Marco Pierre White's recipe faithfully.


So why, then, did my Chicken Chasseur turn out to be such a disappointment?


Let's start with the recipe (for once), so that you can see what I had to deal with :

CHICKEN CHASSEUR

Ingredients :

• 2 tbsps olive oil
• 1 tbsp plain flour, for coating
• 1 small chicken jointed into 8 pieces or 8 chicken thigh portions (skin on or off as preferred)
• 2 shallots, very finely chopped (100g)
• 50ml brandy, optional
• 100ml white wine
• 1 Knorr Chicken Stock Pot
• 600ml tomato juice (with an optional touch of gravy browning added in for extra colour if desired)
• 250g button mushrooms, peeled and finely sliced
• 3 tbsp chopped tarragon
• 2 tbsps chopped parsley
• 2 tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded, finely diced.

Method :

1.    Gently heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. You want the oil to be hot but not so hot that it scorches the floured chicken.
2.    Spread a layer of flour on a plate or a tray. Flour the chicken pieces, coating them in the flour evenly and thoroughly and shaking off the excess.
3.    Add the floured chicken pieces to the hot olive oil, skin side down. Fry the chicken without moving the pieces until golden-brown underneath, around 8-10 minutes; turn over the chicken and fry until browned on the other side.
4.    Add the finely chopped shallot to the chicken pieces in the frying pan, placing them under the chicken so that the shallot cooks.
5.    If using brandy, pour it in around the edge of the pan so that it runs underneath the chicken pieces. Cook for 2-3 minutes to cook off the alcohol.
6.    Then add in the wine, again pouring it in round the sides of the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes so that the alcohol from the wine cooks off and its acidity is reduced.
7.    Now add in the Knorr Chicken Stock Pot and the tomato juice. Shake the pan to gently work it in, turning the chicken pieces to coat them in the liquid.
8.    Slowly bring to the boil, dissolving the Knorr Chicken Stock Pot. Add the tarragon to the chicken and simmer for 5 minutes.
9.    While the chicken is simmering, heat remaining olive oil, in a separate frying pan.
10.    Add in the sliced mushrooms and fry them for 3-5 minutes. Add in the parsley, shaking the pan to mix it in well. Add in the diced tomato, shaking to mix in well.
11.    Spoon the mushroom mixture over the chicken pieces, garnish with parsley sprigs and serve at once.

Marco's version - looks totally different!

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?  Well, it certainly wasn't difficult - apart from jointing the chicken that is, but I'll talk about that later - once you've done all your preparations (which took me an hour!).

First up, I'll say that I did tinker with the given recipe slightly in that I fried off the mushrooms and tomato first, then retained them under the grill to keep warm whilst I fried the chicken and made the sauce.   Well, it seemed daft to lose that mushroom flavour by using a separate pan!

The end result, both hubby and I felt, was nothing like the traditional recipe from France being completely washed out by the final addition of the fresh tomato, which seemed to gang up with the tomato juice involved in the sauce.  All traces of brandy and wine (which had been deliciously apparent right up until the inclusion of the mushrooms and tomato) were totally obliterated - as was the flavour of the mushrooms!  The overwhelming flavour wound up as being simply tomato.  Looking at Marco's version above, it doesn't look like it has had 600ml of tomato juice involved in the sauce at all - it looks rather more like as though it's had more stock and gravy browning!

Now the whole point of this exercise - the making of the Chicken Chasseur - was to spotlight how delicious Knorr's Stock Pots are, instead of making your own stock.  However, where was the stock in the recipe?  I know that one of the points of Knorr's Stock Pots is that you can either dilute the contents of the pot to make stock, or just use it direct in a dish to flavour the gravy or sauce - as in this case.

The trouble, it seems to me, is that the tomato juice was used in such quantity (I even didn't use as much as is stated in the recipe - just 400ml instead of 600ml) that the sauce didn't taste an awful lot different after the addition of the stock pot, than before it.  The tomato juice was very definitely the dominant flavour, albeit that you could still taste the brandy and the lovely wine at this stage.

Why, oh why, didn't I just make my own version of a Chicken Chasseur?  You may well ask.  I suppose, I was being what I thought was true to the spirit of the challenge in following the given recipe.  You live and learn.

The ingredients for the Chicken Chasseur had come from Knorr and been supplied by Foreman & Field - who are famous in bloggerland for providing some real quality goods.  Our Seasonal Box was no different, in that the ingredients were all top notch - and don't think that I'm being ungrateful, I'm not!  I am very grateful to be given the opportunity of cooking with such lovely things, but it makes it all the more disappointing when your recipe doesn't work out how you thought it might.

Take the chicken, for instance.  It came from the Rhug Estate and if you take a look at their website, you'll see that they purport to give their chickens a lovely life, which winds up with a tender and flavoursome bird.  Well maybe we've eaten a lower grade of chicken for too long, but hubby's description of the chicken was "a tough old bird", as his breast portion left something to be desired in the tenderness department.  Incidentally - and interestingly, to buy direct from Rhug the chickens cost £12.  From Foreman & Field, they suddenly shoot up to £19.95.  I refer you all back to my comments on the British Rose Veal posts, about buying direct from the farm!  (Aside from all that - £20 for a chicken?  OMG!).

I'm afraid I don't really know how my thigh portion tasted, as it was still bloody even after frying, then cooking in both brandy and wine, together with simmering in sauce for a good half an hour.  I even started it before the breast portions, with its longer cooking time in mind!  So I had a dinner of tomato sauce with tasteless mushrooms over new potatoes, carrots and tenderstem broccoli.  ~sigh~

It was the first time I'd broken a whole chicken down into individual portions.  However, I'd watched enough people do it and even had a pull-out magazine "how to" to hand.  Even with all that help, it took me FOR EVER to break that chicken down into portions.  It has to be that the bones on this free range organic chicken were so much stronger than "normal" chickens (i.e. free range, from the butcher), because my feeble grip was having significant trouble getting my brand new and sharp as anything poultry shears through it.  I was determined not to call for help though, as I knew hubby really dislikes anything remotely yukky - and dismembering a chicken could quite conceivably be termed "yukky".  That chicken fought back.  Yes, alright, passively - but it fought back.

I hadn't really considered the waste that is involved with breaking into portions, either.  I could have cried if I'd have stopped long enough to think about what I was throwing away and how it could have been put to making a chicken soup or suchlike.  I considered putting it all in the freezer until another day, but as we've just a tiny freezer that is absolutely bursting at the seams at the moment, it just couldn't be done.  It fair broke my heart to throw that carcass and all the rubble away.

I did manage to put the other leg portion and the wings into the freezer for another day, though.  We had a tiny corner left that I wedged them into.  I also have a drumstick in some of the tomato sauce in the fridge, for lunch tomorrow.  (Today's lunch is taken up with a Tenderstem in Ten challenge!).

Still, when I think how (potentially) nice that chicken would have been if we'd have roasted it .... 

The wine that was supplied for the cooking deserves a word or two, as it was really lovely.  Now, when I say "really lovely", you need to sit up and pay attention - not because I'm a great wine buff, but because I'm anything but and normal everyday wines leave me fairly cold.  Every now and then, though, I find one that I really like - so enter the Biddenden Wines' Ortega 2011.  Looking at their website, it is described as "Winner of  "Best Kent Wine" at the Taste of Kent awards 2012. A medium full fruit wine, well balanced with a distinctive fragrance and good acidity. Serve slightly chilled as an aperitif or with food.  Silver Medal UKVA Awards 2012; Bronze Medal SEVA Awards 2012".  Well, I can understand why!

The wine has a very pale colour which leads you to expect a delicate flavour - not the big fruity flavours that burst upon your tongue, ricocheting back and forth across your palate, leaving shooting stars and sparklers in their wake.  Then comes the warmth as the back of your throat radiates a deliciously comforting glow in the aftermath.  This is a wine that makes you purse your lips and nod appreciatively in the way of wine buffs everywhere.

So it was a terrible shame that it all got obliterated by the addition of that last dose of tomato.  ~sigh~

I tried.  I really, really tried.

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Christmas Buffet : Canapés, Cheeseboard & Dessert

Click to enlarge & you'll be able to see more!

First of all, I have just got to tell you how much fun (and a little bit of anxiety) hubby and I had, creating the Christmas Buffet.

Although we've done our best - with what was available - in the past, to make a Christmas Buffet along the lines of this one, we've never had the quality of ingredients.  It was a lovely change - and something of a responsibility - to have such great ingredients to work with.

London Cure Smoked Salmon

Why responsibility?  Well, when you have the opportunity to handle items that are a) worth so much (in relation to our normal ingredients) and b) so beautiful in both quality and flavour, you want to do them justice.  All the ingredients in the Foreman & Field box sent to us by Knorr were gourmet quality.  Although we'd spent quite a long time planning this Buffet, we weren't 100% sure as to whether we'd done them justice, until we'd done it!  For instance, the beautiful London Cure Smoked Salmon - would it have been best to have served it simply, with some buttered brown bread and a lemon wedge?  Maybe so - but we wanted to explore what could be done with the Salmon, as it is unlikely that we'll  get the opportunity again for a long time!

Ultimately, we decided to make some canapés with the Salmon.  This also gave us a chance to show off the Salmon Roe Caviar and have some fun with the ingredients.  We made the predictable Blinis (small sour cream pancakes, with a fold of smoked salmon, a dab of Ricotta cheese - instead of sour cream - and a piece of dill), some smoked salmon pinwheels (a slice of salmon, spread with Ricotta, rolled and topped with a dab of caviar) and some Smoked Salmon Mousse on Rye bread.  I will blog the recipe for the Mousse as my next blog post, as it was completely gorgeous and can easily be made with offcuts of Smoked Salmon - thus rendering it affordable for most!

Smoked Salmon Pinwheel & Blini

Of the three canapés, our favourite was the Blini - and I can tell, having had one, why they are so popular - although probably going terribly out of fashion these days.  Yes, I agree, I could have made my own blinis, but I honestly had enough to do and even with hubby's considerable help, there are just some things that it is easier on me to buy rather than make.  One day, when I'm not so broken, I'll make my own blinis.

We had used Ricotta cheese in the canapés rather than sour cream, in a "damage limitation" exercise as regards the Anti-inflammatory diet I'm on.  (-111 as opposed to -50 for 100g).  The fish is just superb for me (+247 for 100g), as is the caviar, but the cheese is rather a different story - so any little improvement we could make to the negative score at the end of the meal, was worth it.

I enjoyed the Ricotta, although son & heir didn't agree with me.   Hubby wasn't keen on it in the Salmon Pinwheels, although liked it on the Blinis.  I think, perhaps, it would be better to go for the sour cream with the Blini and cream cheese with the pinwheels - but you live and learn!


The pinwheels were simplicity itself to produce - just slice a piece of salmon in half (to a width of around an inch) and trim to 4 inches long.  Smooth cream cheese along its length, remembering to leave a little space at the end free, then roll from the cheesed end to the empty end.  Sit on its cut side and top with a teensy bit of the salmon roe.  Delicious!

Smoked Salmon Mousse, ready to go!

Son & heir's reaction to the Salmon roe caviar was interesting - he completely understood that it was fish eggs and I expected him to be all repulsed by it because of that.  However, he was as intrigued as anything, to the point of stealing one little egg from the top of a canapé while we were still assembling the table.  He loved how the eggs would "pop" on his tongue with the intense salmon flavour and kept going back for more.  He even asked whether any was left - and was very pleased to hear that I'd hardly made an impression on the pot!

The Smoked Salmon Mousse was something else that was simplicity itself to produce.  If you've got a mini food processor, then it'll be even easier - especially if you're making just a little amount, as I was.  The addition of a little horseradish was truly inspirational as it gave the mousse the little bit of tang that had you wondering what it was, without being identifiably horseradish.


We served it on top of Rye bread with sunflower seeds, with a teensy piece of cucumber set in the top - and it was absolutely delicious.  Son & heir wasn't keen on the bread, but I noticed that the blob of mousse disappeared quick sharp!


One of the most amazing flavour sensations was the Smoked Salmon Pinwheel, followed up by a Physalis.  The acidity of the beautiful little fruits worked so well with the oiliness of the fish and acted as a perfect palate cleanser.

 

The Physalis were also a great success with the cheeseboard, too.  We'd bought some grapes to go with it (along with the Physalis), but those little golden fruits in their papery shells were such a great foil for the richness of the cheese - including the Colston Bassett Stilton - that I commend the idea to you.  Physalis are available in the shops now for around £1 for a bag containing 25 or so fruits, so not too expensive.

Something else I have to commend to you, were the crackers we bought to accompany the cheese.  Carr's Cheese Melts are quite the nicest cheese cracker I've tasted in a very long time.  Because of their fragile nature, you have to be gentle (and almost ladylike!) in loading them up with cheese, or you'll wind up with a plate full of crumbs.  However, once you've successfully conveyed them to your face - especially if the cheese is a crackingly good, creamy, gentle but full-flavoured Stilton like the Colston Bassett - then you're in for a few moments of complete heaven.

Our cheese board consisted of the Colston Bassett Stilton, a fairly young but creamy Brie, a lovely piece of "Real Yorkshire" Wensleydale, a small wax-coated Applewood Smoked Cheddar that only I liked and a wax-coated Double Gloucester, which son & heir thought was the raving business!

I served some green olives and a jar of pickled walnuts with the cheeseboard and was disappointed to find that I was the only person who enjoys pickled walnuts.  Well, me, my Dad and Len Goodman (of Strictly Come Dancing fame) are the only people I know of who do.  Yes, they are a bit of an oddity and yes, they do look a tad strange.  However, couple them with cheese and you're onto a winner.  Ah well, all the more for me!


Dessert was - I admit it - a complete cheat.

I took a completely bog-standard (but very tangy and nice) defrosted Lemon Tart and added raspberries (and 3 physalis, for decoration) to it.  I honestly had no intention of mentioning it on the blog here, as it was such a cop-out that it felt dishonest to do so.  However, it was - for me - the surprise of the night owing to just how delicous and more-ish it was!

Asda's Lemon Tart has always been one of my favourite "quick" frozen desserts, as it is quite surprisingly tangy and completely devoid of horrible ersatz cream, chocolate or other decoration.  The addition of the fresh raspberries though, just propelled it through the stratosphere as regards pimped up quick desserts - and I can't help thinking I'll be doing this again!

Hand me a spoon - I'm going in!

I'd like to take this opportunity of thanking Knorr for the opportunity of experiencing working with these wonderful ingredients and the fun of producing the Christmas Buffet.  Fabulous!