Lemon & Black Pepper Chicken - super tasty, with a definite zing!

What a very pleasant surprise this meal turned out to be.  I really wasn't expecting much from it and hence only took a couple of pictures.  You'd have thought I'd know better by now and would take more pictures just in case, but no.

The recipe is incredibly simple - just pan fried chicken breast in a sauce made with slices of lemon, crushed fresh garlic, some chicken stock, lemon juice, runny honey and a whole heap of black pepper. How often it is that the most simple recipes turn out to be the best!

I particularly enjoyed the lemony sauce with the Jersey Royals and the Sweetheart (or Hispi) cabbage. Mmmnnn, but that was sooo good. I'd been craving cabbage, so that might be why, but son & heir agreed the combination was very tasty and a second opinion is always helpful. Feel free to pair the recipe up with whatever accompaniments you fancy - after all, it's your dinner so why not please yourself.

Uncharacteristically, let's head on directly to the recipe and gird your loins for a zingy, fresh tasting chicken sensation.

LEMON & BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN (serves 2)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil
2 individual skinless, boneless chicken breasts
a pinch of sea salt
half a lemon, sliced thinly
half a lemon, juiced
one clove of garlic, crushed
as much fresh ground black pepper as you want - I used a teaspoonful
1 tbsp runny honey
200ml chicken stock - I used a combination of Knorr stock granules (half tsp) and chicken Bovril (half tsp)
2 tsp approx finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp Bisto best chicken gravy granules.

Method :

Heat the olive oil in a good sized frying pan until sizzling hot. Gently add the chicken breasts and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Leave the chicken to brown - you're aiming for it to have an all over golden tan, so don't keep fidgeting it about or it won't sear. Turn the chicken to sear the other side and add the lemon slices to the pan.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, crushed garlic, black pepper, runny honey and chicken stock. When both sides of the chicken are golden, pour the mixture over the chicken into the pan. Allow the sauce to heat through and bubble, reduce slightly and thicken. Turn the chicken from time to time, to keep it basted in the sauce and ensure it is cooked through.

Reduce the heat to medium and include the parsley.  Allow a moment or two for the parsley to heat through and add the gravy granules if necessary, to thicken the sauce to your personal taste.

Serve with the lemon slices on top, with a little chopped parsley as garnish and vegetable accompaniments of your choice.

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Turkey and apple curry - a variation upon a theme

If, perhaps, you have come here via the Recipe Index page of this blog, you may well have noticed that I have two recipes for turkey curry.  This is owing to the fact that today I decided to make the already existing, part Marco Pierre White, part my own, authored curry - but it turned into something else.  Oh it is still very much a curry - but a very different tasting one to the original.

This one is sharper, more zesty, with a smoother coconut flavour and without the butter or cream.  So, potentially, better for you I suppose!

I also started off differently, using raw turkey breast (which is enticingly priced in the shops, at the moment) instead of Christmas roast turkey leftovers.  I think I sort of freestyled thereafter!

I thoroughly enjoyed the lighter nature of this curry and the menfolk all cleared their plates, so they obviously agreed.

All I can suggest, when trying to decide between the two curries, is to look at each recipe's ingredients list and decide which one you like the look of the most.  Or alternatively, which one you already have the most ingredients for!

TURKEY AND APPLE CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp sunflower, peanut or vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 sweet white onion, cut into large chunks
2 big fat cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 red chilli, chopped finely and de-seeded if you prefer your curry milder
half a tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of sea salt (use smoked if you've got it)
500g raw turkey breast, cut into bite sized chunks
1 Braeburn (or similarly tart) apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 large tomato, diced
3 tbsp Patak's Korma curry paste
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 Knorr chicken stock pot (a chicken stock cube will do, but the more chickeny the better)
2-300ml water
1 good tbsp of lemon juice
1 tsp ground turmeric
30g creamed coconut
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander.

Method :

In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil until a piece of onion will sizzle.  Add the onions, garlic and chilli and fry for 10-15 minutes over a moderate heat until the onions are beginning to turn golden.  Keep the contents of the pan moving, so as to prevent the garlic from burning.

Add the cinnamon and sea salt part way through the frying.

Push the onion mixture to the side of the pan, add a little more oil and increase the heat.  Add the turkey breast pieces to the empty side of the pan and fry until golden on at least three sides.  Mix the onions in with the turkey.

Reduce the heat back to moderate and add the apple and tomato and cook on for a few moments.

Add the curry paste and tomato puree and stir through.  Continue to fry and stir until you can see the oil beginning to separate.

Add the chicken stock pot (minus its pot, obviously), water, lemon juice and ground turmeric and stir gently through.  Allow the mixture to simmer - stirring regularly to prevent the curry catching on the bottom of the pan - for a good 15-20 minutes.  Keep your eye on the fluid levels, you should be aiming for a slightly wetter mix than you would want to serve.

Finally, add the creamed coconut and chopped coriander and stir through.  The sauce will thicken as the coconut cooks, you can add more water if it becomes too stiff.  Once the sauce is at your preferred texture, your curry is ready to serve.

Serve with hot white basmati rice and a sprinkle of chopped coriander as garnish.

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Midweek beef mince with black garlic - not scary at all!

How do you elevate a midweek minced beef recipe?  Why, add black garlic of course!

Black garlic is exactly that - it's garlic and it's very black, having been aged in balsamic vinegar.  Balsajo is the black garlic I used today and we love it.  The cloves are stickily dark like soft liquorice, but they don't taste of liquorice!  If you're expecting it to taste of raw garlic, it doesn't do that either.  It has a taste all of its own, being sweet but slightly tangy and incredibly delicious.  I haven't yet eaten an entire clove like a sweetie, but the thought is there!

So today we were due to have just plain common or garden beef mince in gravy, which I always try to make as flavoursome as possible.  Just because it's a midweek dish, doesn't mean it should be lacking in flavour or interest.

Having received the Balsajo as a competition prize a few days ago, I was keen to try it out in as many different incarnations as possible - so I backed off on a few ingredients that I would normally include in a midweek beef mince and added a nice whack of black garlic.  The challenge to it was clear - see what you can do with this!  

Because the black garlic has a quiet, sweet flavour, it's effect on the savouriness of the mince dish wasn't a big slap in the face sort of effect but very much one of infusing that mellow richness throughout the meat and gravy.  Just gorgeous.  Every so often you picked up a little chunk of black garlic on the fork, enabling a more intense flavour to come through.

I was astounded at the price for our Balsajo black garlic.  Being so keen on it we were eager to replace our bulb once it was finished and so looked online to find out more.  The Balsajo website has a handy "Where To Buy" section, from which we discovered that if we turned up at our local Sainsbury's with the princely sum of £1.50 (December 2015 price) clutched in our hot little hand, all would be well.  Now how often does that happen?  Not very often, not with "artisan" products that are unusual and slightly off the wall, I've found.  Colour me seriously impressed.

So all that has made me very happy.  After all, it's one thing being given an item to review (although, as I say, I won it in this instance), but quite something else if once you've decided you love it and cannot be without it, to find out that you need to re-mortgage the house in order to do so.  As long as Balsajo keep making this delicious product, I'll keep on buying it and I recommend that you do, too.

MINCED BEEF WITH BLACK GARLIC   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil
500g reduced fat minced beef
smoked sea salt (normal is fine)
ground black pepper
1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 bay leaf
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 cloves black garlic, sliced
quarter of a tsp ground cinnamon
half a tsp dried rosemary
1 Knorr Rich Beef stock pot
1 tsp Bovril
1 heaped tsp French mustard
2 tbsp Bisto Best beef gravy granules.

To serve : mashed potato and seasonal vegetables (I used carrot, broccoli, runner beans and peas)

Method :

Heat the olive oil until really quite hot in a large, deep frying pan.  Add the beef and break up the block into small pieces as it cooks.  Add a small pinch of smoked sea salt and a good helping of black pepper.  Fry until the beef has all browned, the moisture has evaporated and there is just oil left under the beef.  Leave the beef to caramelise for at least two turns, then remove it with a slotted spoon into a bowl.

Remove all but 1 tbsp of the fat from the pan and reserve in case you need more as you cook the vegetables.

Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf and fry until the onion is transparent and soft.  Do not let the garlic burn.

Add the tomatoes and black garlic and stir to combine.  Fry until the tomatoes are starting to break down.

Add the cinnamon and rosemary and stir to combine.

Add the stock pot and sufficient water to just under the level of the mince.

Add the Bovril and mustard and stir to combine.  Bring to a lively simmer, then cover the pan and leave to cook for some 10-15 minutes.

Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary - the dish can cope with lots of black pepper but remember that the gravy granules are high in salt!

Pull the mince to one side of the pan and remove from the heat.  Sprinkle in the gravy granules and stir immediately.  Return the pan back to the heat and stir gently.  Once the gravy has thickened, you are ready to serve.

Serve with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

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Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

We've had a few tummy issues in the family just lately, so I've been trying to avoid the heavily spiced, full of chilli, rich with tomato sort of flavours so as to give everyone a chance to recover.  Inevitably, my first port of call is always what my hubby refers to as "brown food", or "something in some sort of gravy".  Now that is okay by me because I love gravy of all kinds, but it's not necessarily so okay with the remainder of the assembled throng.

So I began pondering the thought of how to adjust foods that we normally eat but that are very tomatoey, or contain a hefty whack of chilli for instance, but exchange something else for those troublesome ingredients.  Something that will deliver a good flavour in exchange for the tummy-troubling effect.

Amazingly - I think probably because I've a talent for comfort food - I've been fairly successful in most of these "calmer" dishes and this one proved to be particularly good.

Cooking the chicken through

Now I know that some of you will raise your eyebrows and move on at the mention of the use of a tin of condensed cream of chicken soup.  Well, if that's the way you feel about it then fine, I won't try and convince you otherwise.  However, for those of you who are left, the use of the soup as a sauce base is invaluable when you're either a little bit pushed for time, or are just worn out and can't face the "from scratch, infuse with chicken, add an hour to the cooking method" version.

I don't recommend that you use the soup alone for your sauce - although it would do at a pinch - but if you work on adding complimentary flavours, you can create a multi-layered flavour profile resulting in a really quite interesting sauce which will keep your taste buds interested through to the last bite.

Mmmmn ... had to stop myself from "tasting" too often!

I started my layers of flavour with sweated down onion and garlic in olive oil, then added chopped celery and a green pepper (which was a late addition, but made all the difference).  The tarragon made a huge impression on the sauce flavours, of course, as did the use of goat's milk instead of cow's.  You just get that slight tang of goat's cheese coming through - and the little bit of Philadelphia helped that along by providing the creaminess.

Again, it was one of those "put things into the pan in order, boil some pasta, combine the two and eat" dinners that are always so welcome.  Plus, with the extra little bit of breathing space that you get when it goes into the oven, you've got time to beat back the washing up or put together a little side salad, if the idea moves you.

As for Cook's Tips, well I've a few :

With any vegetable that you are using for flavour, chopping them finely instead of just chopping them into bite sized chunks, will increase the flavour they can deliver by a factor of many.  So don't be tempted to leave your onions, celery and green pepper in large chunks - small pieces will work so much harder.

It really isn't necessary to use goat milk for the sauce, cow's will do the job perfectly well - and if you're using a semi-skimmed of whole milk, then there is no need to add the Philadelphia as that was really just there to provide the creaminess lacking in a skimmed milk.  Likewise, if you're using skimmed milk but don't have any Philadelphia but do have some cream - use that!

Do try to find - and use - low salt chicken stock granules or cubes.  It makes all the difference if YOU can say how much salt you want in the mix, rather than some manufacturer deciding for you.

Again, it isn't essential to use petit pois - ordinary peas will do perfectly well.  Petit pois are just smaller and sweeter, but were what we had in the freezer at the time.  If you don't have any peas, then some frozen sweetcorn would do a similar job!

Also, it isn't essential to use the mozzarella ball.  It just provides some "stringy cheese" which my son always enjoys and adds a nice creamy flavour to the cheesy layer on top of the bake.  However, if you're strapped for cash or can't find any - don't worry about not including it, nobody will notice.

It's a great mid week dinner, this one.  It can be dressed up for more than four by the addition of a side salad and garlic bread, or just eaten as is.  Very flexible where ingredients are concerned and forgiving to cook, it's a very civilised little recipe.  The evenings are beginning to draw in and the temperatures have dropped, so I think it's time for a little bit of comfort food.  What say you?

CHICKEN PENNE PASTA BAKE   (serves 4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 stick celery, de-strung and chopped finely
1 green pepper, cored and diced
10g salted butter
half a tsp ground black pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
1 tsp dried tarragon
295g can of Batchelor's condensed cream of chicken soup
250ml skimmed milk (I used goat milk)
1 tbsp Philadelphia cream cheese
1.5 tsp Knorr reduced salt chicken granules (stock powder)
2 tbsp frozen petits pois
300g penne pasta
125g mozzarella ball, sliced
150g mature cheddar cheese.

Method :

Two thirds fill a large saucepan with water and put on to boil over a high heat.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over a high heat and add the onion, garlic, celery and pepper.  Make sure to stir the contents regularly so as not to allow them to brown, but cook until the onion is transparent and the celery & pepper have softened.

Add the black pepper and stir through.

Add the sliced chicken and continue to cook, stirring regularly, until the chicken has all turned from pink to white.

Reduce the heat to moderate and add the dried tarragon and stir through.

Once the water comes to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente.  You don't want it to be cooked all the way through, as it will finish cooking in the oven.

Add the soup, milk, cream cheese and stock powder and gently stir until all is amalgamated.  Allow the combination to come to a gentle simmer.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary, but remember that there will be cheese on top - so go easy on the salt!  Add the frozen petit pois and stir to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain and make sure to retain a little of the pasta water, just in case you need to reduce the thickness of the sauce a little.

Replace the pasta back into the hot saucepan and add the sauce contents.

Stir through gently.

Decant into an ovenproof dish and lay the mozzarella slices over the top.

Cover with the grated cheddar and put into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/Gas4 for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted, bubbly and just beginning to turn golden.

Serve.

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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

Cooking a Christmas Turkey successfully!

That is, in a way which leaves you with cooked, succulent, tasty meat that won't have you either reaching for the wine glass for some lubrication, or calling to God on the great white telephone owing to it being under-done.

Well, you can't ask for more than that, really - can you?

I must come straight out and say that the lovely people at Knorr were kind enough to send me the wonderful Foreman & Field box of goodies that enabled me to post up this "how to" blog post.  I have been the fortunate recipient of a number of these boxes - and would like to just say a public thank you to Knorr and to Jen Harris at Golin Harris, their P.R. people, for all the terrific produce that has graced my cooker in the past year.

I wasn't expecting such a huge box this year, but in it came with hubby buckling at the knees under the weight.  Impressive, eh?

Inside the box, there was the following :

·         SELDOM SEEN FARM TURKEY 4.5-5.5kg
·         LONGMAN’S FARM BUTTER 250g
·         EMMETT'S MILD CURE BACK BACON 250g
·         FORMAN & FIELD CHRISTMAS STUFFING
·         SELECTION OF FRESH HERBS
·         1 X ORANGE
·         12 x LUXURY MINCE PIES
·         CHAPEL DOWN NECTAR DESSERT WINE
·         2 Knorr Chicken Gravy Pots.

Well, the turkey speaks for itself - and I'll deal with that in detail in a minute or so.

The Longman's Farm Butter is unsalted and is the most glorious, creamy butter.  I have to admit that I felt it would be a shame to use it in this way and it is far nicer enjoyed on crackers with cheese, or on hot toast, so I used a supermarket unsalted butter.  Sssssh!  Don't tell!

The Emmett's bacon is so intensely smoked, it has an amazing aroma and three rashers is very definitely all that was needed!  I have intentions of using the remainder of the bacon in a French Chicken with peas & bacon recipe, in which it should be glorious.

Now, a word about the Christmas Stuffing.  It comes already frozen, so don't try and freeze it again - and use it as soon as you can.  Last year's pack got left in the fridge for 2 days and was simply horrid - it wound up in the bin.  This year's pack got cooked off on the day of delivery and the cooked stuffing balls are in the freezer.  It has a lovely flavour, being mixed with pork sausage meat, chestnuts and cranberries - but it very definitely won't wait.

The herbs and the orange are, well, herbs and an orange.  ~shrug~  What can I say?  Oh, except to say that the Foreman & Field parsley seems to be the nicest smelling parsley I've come across to date.  It's so fresh!

The mince pies are definitely to.die.for.  There is a hint of either vanilla or almond in the pastry - can't decide which - that marries the pastry up with the mincemeat so well!  I'm going to be using two of these in a frozen yoghurt recipe.  Hopefully, I'll make that tonight.

As for the dessert wine, well, I have yet to try that one - but it's from the Tenterden Vineyards.  What's not to like?

Now the recipe below follows Marco Pierre-White's recipe which is available from here where there is a printable version.  One thing I would mention, is that my timings are slightly different from his, for some obscure reason.  I followed the recipe that came in the box - but the recipe online is slightly different.  So you might like to just make a note of the timings I used, provided your turkey is also in the 4.5-5.5kg range.

ROAST TURKEY - FROM ARRIVAL TO CARVING

See that plastic bag peeping out?  Remove it!

So.  It's just you and the turkey.  It is sitting there, somewhat malevolently, in its wrapping, looking at you in that "go on - I dare you!" kind of way.  So you need to grab hold of any nervousness you have over the issue and throw it behind you, because - this time - you're going to win.

First job - unwrap your turkey and have a good look at it.  Is there anything that needs removing?   There may be whole feathers that might have been missed in the plucking or the bag of giblets that will be tucked into the cavity.  Believe me, roasting a bird with its plastic bag of giblets still inside, does not make for a tasty bird.  No. No.  So, for goodness' sake, just have a peep (out of one eye, if you're squeamish) and check.  One smooth move from the bird to the bin will take care of those giblets.  For those who either a) don't mind the smell of them cooking or b) have no sense of smell, put them in a bowl and use them to make the gravy with.  Be my guest.

By 'eck, 'twas a buxom bird!

Next thing, is to rinse out the cavity of the bird.  Now remember, you don't want to be splashing potentially germ-laden dilute turkey blood everywhere, so have the water running fairly slowly and be careful.  Once your turkey is rinsed, pat dry with some kitchen paper (yes, inside as well - you don't have to look) and leave it on the side while you splash some sink cleaner around your sink.  Best to do that now - you never know who might come along and want to dabble their fingers in it, otherwise.

Back to the turkey.  Or in fact, back to the flavoursome butter mixture that you're going to be putting under the skin of the turkey breast, that will both flavour the bird and keep the breast from drying out in the oven.  In this instance, I'm using orange, rosemary, parsley and bacon.  Don't feel you have to do the same!  You can use whatever combination of herbs, herbs plus bacon, bacon plus fruit, an assortment of spices, BBQ sauce - whatever floats your boat, to mix with the butter.  However, the butter is a necessary thing, as that's what keeps your turkey moist.

So - assuming you're using the same as I did - get a bowl and grate just the zest from the orange into it.  Don't include any of the white pith in there, as it is bitter and nasty.  Take three of the bacon rashers and remove the rind.  Chop the bacon finely and add to the bowl.  Take the rosemary and pick the leaves from all but three stems.  Chop the leaves very small and place them into the bowl.  Cut the stems from the parsley and chop the leaves finely - and put them into the bowl too.  Add a good pinch of freshly ground black pepper and 200g of unsalted butter.  Using your hands, scrunch everything together until well mixed.

Next, decide which roasting tin you are going to use for the turkey and line it with a doubled over piece of silver foil.  I added the bacon rind and parsley stalks to the tin, just to capitalise on any flavour that was going.  I always think it's a terrible shame to throw potential flavour in the bin!

Right, so now it's time to get up close and personal with this turkey.

Take a deep breath - this won't hurt a bit!

Turn it so that its neck end is towards you (that'll be the opposite end to the legs!) and pull the neck flap out from under the string that is trussing it.  You will probably need to trim off the majority of the length of this flap, in order to gain access to the breast meat under it.  This is where poultry shears come into their own!

What we're aiming to do, is to create a pocket between the skin and the breast meat.  You can do this by pushing your fingers through the membrane that connects the two - yes, I know it's gross but it's over quickly!  I found that my little fat fingers didn't reach far enough along the breast, so I used a blunt ended tablespoon and pushed that in as far as it would reach, bowl side up.  The object of the exercise, is not to pierce the skin at all - otherwise all your butter will run directly out as soon as it melts.

See?  Short fat fingers - no hope of reaching far enough!

Make a long pocket across the top of both breasts.  It is easiest to do them separately, as the skin is joined along the breastbone and trying to pierce it there is almost impossible to do without breaking the skin.

Once your pockets are done, divide your butter mix into two and squeeze one half into each pocket.  You'll find they arrive in one lump, but by smoothing with your thumb along the top of the skin, you'll find you can encourage the lump to thin out and before long you'll have both breasts looking all buttered up and lovely.  There's just one thing left to do, which is to take a cocktail stick and use it to "stitch" the neck hole shut.  This will stop the solids inside the flavoured butter from escaping.

A fine bit of cocktail stitchery!

Cut the remains of the orange in half and insert each half into the cavity.  The orange will provide lovely orange-scented and flavoured steam which will also keep the meat moist.

Tuck the remaining three sprigs of rosemary down the side of each leg - between the leg and the breast - and tuck one into the cavity, for luck. 

Almost looks attractive, now!

The next thing is to think about what you want on the skin of the turkey.  I gave the whole bird a good coating of rapeseed oil, as a little oil helps to brown the skin and keep it crispy.  By all means use olive oil, or peanut, or just plain vegetable oil - it really won't matter.

I then seasoned the bird with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and added a final flourish with a few pinches of Sumac.  Sumac has a fresh citrus flavour and would go very well with the orange, I felt.  You could easily add more herbs, or more spices - whatever will go with what you've used in the flavoured butter.

So there you have it!  One turkey, all ready for the oven.

The last thing to do before committing it to the heat, is to place a large piece of silver foil over the top - effectively sealing the turkey in - and crimp it closed all around the roasting tin.

You should have your oven pre-heated to 220degC/200degC(fan)/425degF/Gas 7 - yes, that hot! - so place your turkey in the middle of the oven for the next 30 minutes.

What your turkey should look like, once you uncover it!

Once 30 minutes are up, leaving the turkey undisturbed, simply turn the oven temperature down to 170degC/150degC(fan)/300degF/Gas 3 for another 2.5-3 hours.

I gave my turkey the full 3 hours, at the end of which you remove the turkey from the oven and remove its silver foil cover.  Baste the turkey with the cooking juices that will have accumulated in the pan (we tipped ours out into a jug and poured it over - it was a two man job, but worth doing!) and replace it - without the silver foil lid - for another 30 minutes at an increased temperature of 200degC/180degC(fan)/400degF/Gas 6 to gain that lovely golden colour.

See?  "Lovely golden colour" - I wasn't joking either!

At the end of the cooking time, remove the turkey from the oven and leave it to sit in the roasting tin for 15 minutes, to rest, covered with foil to help it keep warm.  During this time, the juices in the meat are allowed to redistribute themselves around the meat and it may well suck up some of the cooking liquid that is in the tin.

Turkey - meet platter.  Or should that be "turkey meat platter"?

Once the 15 minutes are up, decant the turkey from the tin onto a warmed platter.  Re-wrap it in its silver foil cape and leave it to rest for another 30 minutes.

By this time, it is quite right to feel as though you've been faffing around with this damned turkey ALL FLIPPING DAY!  Believe me, it is worth it though.

Just look at that and think of the admiration of your peers - this, too, could be yours

I saved the cooking juices from the roasting tin to use in the gravy making.  I just skimmed the fat off and popped it into the fridge until I needed it.  If you are serving your turkey immediately, then there's no need to do this - just use it how you like in the gravy.

Congratulations!  Your turkey is now ready to carve!

Quick! The this-turkey-has-to-be-won-by-Monday-morning giveaway!

It's a sooper, sooper-quick giveaway!

~ GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ~

You see this fabulous collection of Christmas goodies - and yes, that does include a Turkey, all 4.5kg-5.5kg of it, stuffing, mince pies and dessert wine - well get entering via the Rafflecopter widget below and who knows?  It could be yours!

So when I say it's an enormous box - it's an enormous box!

I can 100% recommend the Turkey - one from Seldom Seen Farm - as I have also taken delivery of one of these enormous boxes full of loveliness.  I roasted the Turkey yesterday and boy oh boy, but it is fabulous!  So tender and moist - beautiful.

The mince pies are divine!  So crumbly with a hint of almond or vanilla that just makes them so special.

You can either follow Marco Pierre White's recipe for Knorr - his Roast Turkey with Orange and Smokey Bacon Baste - which I did and is lovely!

Or you can use the ingredients to make your own Christmas recipe, whilst quaffing the beautiful wine from Tenterden vineyards and munching on gorgeous mince pies.

Well, it would solve the quandary of what to have at Christmas, now wouldn't it?

There are two things to note before you enter.  First is that you absolutely HAVE to be available to take delivery on the 21st December.  If you're going to be away on that day, don't enter because the delivery date can't be changed.

Secondly, if you are resident anywhere but in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland, again, please do not enter.  The box contains foodstuffs which although packed with cold bags, will not sustain a safe temperature for delivery abroad.

I really am going to have to think of a competition prize for all you folks who hail from foreign fields!

The competition has now closed - but Jo Hutchinson was the lucky winner!  Congratulations, Jo!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Slow cooked Cumberland beef stew with donkey carrots

When I first set out to make this meal, it was supposed to be a crispy topped Cumberland pie.  However, I ran out of puff part way through it - and discovered how yummy just the beef part of the recipe could be on its own.

As with a lot of my recipes these days, this one has taken bits from several different recipes.  However, the original inspiration came from the BBC Good Food website and their Crispy topped Cumberland pie.

The original version was made with feather blade beef, however I opted to use our favourite shin of beef because a) I was going to be slow-cooking it and b) the flavour of beef shin is amazing.  However, this plan back-fired on me this time around - as you'll discover later.

I liked the idea of the sliced potatoes on top, along with the baked to crispiness cheese coating.  Cheddar always goes so well with beef, they are a real comfort food pairing.  I was a bit nervous about the sliced potatoes, however, as I've not had a lot of luck with them in the past.  They either wind up still hard (not long enough in the oven) or turn black and unappetising looking (wrong type of potato, left too long before baking).  You see, I know what I did wrong in the past - so I was determined not to commit any of these crimes this time around.  Hubby always greets the idea of sliced potato on top of a savoury dish with great scepticism, so I not only had my own failures to beat, I had his expectations to exceed too.

Swimming around happily

When it got closer to the time when I would make the transfer from the slow cooker to the oven, I think I had got myself so wound up over the potatoes failing (again), that I just opted for the easier route and didn't bother.

The marriage of beef and cheese is what makes a "Cumberland" something, Cumberland.  So, rather than miss the whole point of the recipe, I remembered seeing Jamie Oliver adding some grated cheese to a beef casserole - and did the same.  It was very definitely counter-intuitive to be grating cheddar into a beef casserole, but for all that it didn't taste obviously of cheddar cheese, it very definitely made a difference in both flavour and texture.

I must pause here and comment on the carrots.  You see, carrots have such a fundamental part to play in British cooking.  They appear on so many plates over the course of a lifetime's meals, yet rarely do you see anyone doing anything exciting with them (apart from the occasional carrot cake and maybe a carrot & coriander soup).  Now, I'm not saying that adding them to this stew was exciting, but if we could just have a little bit of appreciation here for the 'umble carrot in all its many forms, I think it would be appropriate.  The carrots used in this stew were the big fat donkey carrots.  None of your thin, springtime carrots, or your fancy Chantenay carrots.  Oh no.  What you need are big, fat, coarse carrots that are going to stand being cooked for a long time and have loads of sweetness to impart.

I love the name "donkey carrots" and have been wracking my brains to try and remember where I first heard the term.  It was either care of Raymond Blanc on his "Kitchen Secrets" programme - he is so funny in this programme! - or with Michael Caines during his carrot episode of the Great British Food Revival.  Either way, "donkey carrot" just suits this great big honking lump of carrotiness perfectly - and "donkey carrots" they shall be, for me, in future.  (I can remember when I owned horses and a donkey, buying a 25kg bag of just these type of carrots, for their feed!  More than one of them went home with me and wound up on my plate!).

Now, what was the end result like, I hear you ask?  Well, I loved it, son & heir loved it but hubby - oddly - couldn't take the texture of the beef shin.

See what I mean by connective tissue?  Can't trim it all out!

I'm really not sure what the difference was, as we've had and eaten beef shin on many other occasions and he hasn't experienced the same problem, plus I didn't notice any difference in the meat as I was trimming it up.  Trimming up beef shin is always a labour of love, so I very definitely went over it with a fine toothcomb for yukky fat and globby bits.  Shin of beef contains a lot of connective tissue, which during the course of slow cooking melts into the gravy and gives it a very rich, almost glutinous texture.  It makes me wonder if the addition of the cheese to the gravy didn't just push the texture over the edge of palatable for hubby, as he really is so terribly sensitive to soft textures in food.

For me, the cheese made the gravy incredibly savoury, rich and unctuous along with giving it a certain indefinable and very pleasant something.  I really liked the carrot and the combination of onions and celery had just melted away into the gravy.  I used my favourite Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot to provide a good amount of additional "oomph!" to the gravy base - they really are indispensable to me, now.

That oddly coloured carrot on the right, is a purple carrot!

So all in all, I'd very definitely do this recipe again - but I think I'd choose something like Brisket of beef, or perhaps Silverside (depending on the price!), both of which have far less connective tissue and thus would make it palatable for hubby.  After all, there's no point spending all that time trimming, cooking and serving if he can't eat it!

SLOW COOKED CUMBERLAND STEW WITH DONKEY CARROTS   (feeds 4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
6-700g beef brisket (or braising cut of your choice)
2 big donkey carrots, peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
2 onions, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Knorr Really Beefy Stock Pot (or a beef stock cube)
1 tsp Bovril
half a tsp of freshly ground black pepper
500ml hot water
1 tbsp softened butter
2 tbsp plain flour
a large handful of grated mature cheddar cheese.

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a frying pan until really quite hot.  Add the beef - you may need to do this bit in stages, so as not to overcrowd the pan - and sear until you have a good dark golden brown colour on at least two sides.  Decant into the slow cooker with a slotted spoon and turn it to low, making sure to replace the lid.

2.  Add the carrots to the slow cooker and replace the lid.

3.  Add the onion to the frying pan (you may need a touch more oil) and cook gently for 5-6 minutes until softened, transparent and just beginning to take on colour.

4.  Add the celery and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes.

5.  Add the bay leaves, tomato puree, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, stock pot (or stock cube, if using), Bovril, pepper and water and stir gently to combine as it heats through.

6.  In a small dish, mix the butter and flour together.  Remove the frying pan from the heat and add a teaspoonful of the flour mixture to the gravy.  Stir well to ensure it mixes in without forming lumps.  Continue until you have the consistency you prefer - less flour mix for thinner, more flour mix for thicker.

7.  Return the pan to the heat and stir until properly thickened.

8.  Decant into the slow cooker.  Replace the lid and leave to cook for the next 8-10 hours.

9.  Just prior to serving, remove the lid and using the slotted spoon, move the meat to one side of the slow cooker.

10.  Add the grated cheddar to the non-meat side and stir it gently into the gravy.  Once melted, stir the meat back in to the cheesy gravy.

Serve.

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