Pork, Leek & Apple Sausage Rolls of much deliciousness

I had been wanting to make sausage rolls for a very long time.  However, because my last few batches of sausage rolls had received something of a lacklustre review from the assembled throng, I was nervous.

Then, whilst pondering on what to do with a little bag of pulled pork that was left over when I portioned out the 2kg joint, I had what appeared to be a Very Good Idea.

The pulled pork wasn't enough to make anything except a sandwich on its own, but bolstered by something else (like sausage meat), it would make a grand ingredient.

So what is the obvious thing to make, when contemplating sausage meat?  Well, yes, I admit - Scotch Eggs was right up there.  However, because of hubby's sensitivity to eggs that wasn't too clever an option.  No, but in the savoury baking line, sausage rolls were a definite possibility!

I pondered on what type of sausage meat to use.  There are so many different types out there in the marketplace, the world is your oyster where making sausage rolls is concerned.  However, I wanted to keep the pork theme going - and I remembered that our local butcher had some lovely fat Pork & Leek sausages.  Now there's a bit of a problem with our butcher's sausages in that they can be dreadfully salty.  However, I reckoned that with the pulled pork in the mix, it might very well help to alleviate some of the saltiness - as would the pastry.

However, thinking about how the combination would taste - after all, the pulled pork was cooked in a vegetable stock so wouldn't really be bringing much in the way of flavour (other than its porkiness) but loads in the way of texture to the table - I felt it needed something else.  All the flavours, so far, were very savoury - what about a sweet note?  I considered the onion marmalade we'd bought at the Dorset Smokery, but felt that would dominate over the leek.  What would let all the other flavours sing, whilst providing a sweet note?  AHA!  Apple.  Something sharp but sweet, like a Braeburn or Cox's.  Not a cooker like a Bramley, as that would cook down to mush, but something that would hold its shape.  Plus, it just so happened that I had a homeless Braeburn in the fridge.

There, the sausage rolls were sorted.  It was a simple matter of chopping the pulled pork a couple of times to reduce the length of each strand, dicing the apple very finely and mushing the whole lot together with some skinned pork & leek sausages.

Wrap the whole lot up in some puff pastry (I really must learn how to make that stuff), egg wash and bake.

Happiness!  I served mine for a main course along with baked beans and hash browns.

Whatever you might require sausage rolls for - and let's face it, there's a million reasons to have a sausage roll - these will do the job.  Cut them big for taking to firework parties, cut them small for buffets and picnics.  The flavours are just brilliant - the apple worked so well - and the whole filling is just big, rewarding and flavoursome.  These aren't your mean, all-pastry-and-no-sausage supermarket sausage rolls - and they definitely aren't those nasty bright pink pap-filled things that you get from your local baker's chain.  These are real sausage rolls - and an excellent reason to hold onto a little bag of leftovers from the next pulled pork!


PORK, LEEK & APPLE SAUSAGE ROLLS   (makes 12)

Ingredients :

150g shredded pulled pork, any large pieces chopped smaller
6 large pork & leek sausages, skins removed
1 Braeburn apple, cored, peeled and chopped finely
2 sheets of pre-made puff pastry (around 650g)
1 egg yolk, beaten lightly.

Method :

1.  Into a large bowl, add the shredded pulled pork, the sausage meat and apple pieces.

2.  Squish and mix with your fingers until the ingredients are all evenly distributed.  You shouldn't need to season, as the sausage meat should be able to do the seasoning for you.

3.  Unroll the first pastry sheet and run a rolling pin over it lightly, just to flatten it.

4.  Cut in half (across the shorter side) with a sharp knife.

5.  Take a quarter of the sausage meat mixture and form into a sausage shape slightly in from one side of the pastry.  Take the meat right up to the edge of the pastry.

6.  Brush a little egg yolk onto the other side of the pastry and starting with the sausage meat side, roll over onto the egg yolk side.

7.  Give the roll a little press to make sure it forms a good round shape and press along the edge of the cut side of the pastry, to secure it to the roll.

8.  With a very sharp knife, cut into three smaller sausage rolls and place onto a baking tray.

9.  Repeat for the remains of the pastry.  You should, therefore, have made four large sausage rolls, that are cut into 12 smaller ones.

10.  Slash the top of the pastry lightly on each sausage roll, then brush with egg yolk.

11.  Put into a pre-heated oven at 200degC/400degF/Gas6, for 35-45 minutes or until the pastry is crispy and golden.

12.  Cool slightly before serving.

Printable version

Sweet Chilli Pork Stir Fry - or "how to use the other half of your pulled pork"

This is the final destination of the other half of our pulled pork joint.

Now it was supposed to be a "sort of" roast dinner - with accompanying roast potatoes, parsnips, butternut squash, Yorkshire Puddings and gravy etc.  However, we forgot to take one of the tubs of stock out of the freezer at the same time as the pork, which meant that we'd have to forgo using it to make the amazing gravy - which would be a shame.  True, I could have got it out anyway and defrosted it in the pan - but in the time before I was due to start making dinner, I started to think sideways.

Initially, I started to think about gravy alternatives such as making a sauce.  I contemplated fruity sauces, but couldn't think of anything that didn't demand going out to the local Sainsbury's for supplies - and I didn't want to have to do that.  I seriously contemplated making an onion sauce, mainly because I love onion sauce and haven't had it for an aeon.  I thought it would go quite well with the pork (even better with lamb - but we didn't have any of that) and onion sauce always goes well with vegetables and roasties.  However, when I contemplated the washing up that would result at the end of the dinner, that put me off the sauce idea completely.

After all, I'd have a pyrex dish for the pork to be heated up in, the roasting tray for the roasties and a pyrex bowl that I'd used to oil and season them in, another tray for the Yorkshires, the three-part steamer pan for the other vegetables - and that was before I'd begun to think about the gravy or a sauce!  I was going off the idea rapidly.

So I began to think even further sideways - about things that weren't roast dinners.  Now, what would I be likely to do with some leftover roast pork, if I wasn't going to make it into a roast?

Wraps - I could put it in wraps with some BBQ sauce.  Don't have any wraps though - and don't want to have to go out and get some.  A pie - it'd make a nice pie.  Mind you, then I'd have to make pastry - and I refer you back to the washing up problem.  So what doesn't make a lot of washing up?  Hmmn .. something made in the wok.  Aha - now we're onto something.  A stir-fry.  Oh, but son & heir doesn't like stir fries - and I don't have any traditional stir fry vegetables in.  Well yes, but this IS pulled pork we're talking about stir frying - and son & heir is a sucker for pulled pork.  Add some chilli to the lure and I'm sure he'll forgive the stir fry effect.  So what vegetables have I got?  A red pepper .. two courgettes .. the taggy end of a head of broccoli and plenty of onions.  Wish I had some mushrooms!

So okay, what sauce could I put the whole thing in?  I've got a Blue Dragon Black Bean sauce, but one won't be enough and anyway, I don't fancy the oh-so-savoury route.  Wish I had some Hoi Sin sauce!  I've got Oyster sauce .. hmmn, once again not enough.

It was about this time that I remembered I had a bottle of Mic's Chilli Sweet Chilli Sauce in the cupboard that we'd not tried as yet.  I knew I also had a part-used bottle of Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ Sauce in the fridge.  The sweet chilli was going down the right flavour route - sweet and hot - and the BBQ sauce would add the complexity to the flavours.  Add a little bit of Mirrin (Japanese rice wine) and a dash of Fish Sauce and I reckon we'd have it.  I had the bottle of Cider Vinegar standing by, just in case the whole thing came up too sweet - but didn't need it.

The vegetables behaved themselves in the pan and I even got to exercise a tip I'd seen demonstrated on the t.v. - that of stir frying the onions and peppers, then including a small amount of water in the wok and steaming the remaining vegetables for 2-3 minutes, before continuing the stir frying.  I did this just after including the broccoli pieces and it worked like a charm.  The combination of the two sauces was a complete masterstroke, if I say so myself - and the whole thing came together in what felt like minutes.  The washing up consisted of two pans and a chopping board - can't complain about that - and best of all, it was flipping delicious.

As a last-minute avoidance of making a roast dinner, I'd say that was a complete score!

As regards the Mic's Chilli Sweet Chilli Sauce, what a winner that is!  I'd already got a huge bottle of Thai sweet chilli sauce on the go - and had been waiting to finish that before breaking out the Mic's Chilli version.  However, the Thai one is so rampant with garlic that I didn't fancy including it in the stir fry or we'd have been burping garlic for ever more.  Mic's Chilli's Sweet Chilli Sauce has a degree of garlic - much as you'd expect - but it also has some lovely deep toffee flavours going on in there.  The chilli effect, for all that it declares itself to be just "one chilli hot" was still pretty darned awesome when combined with a dash of Chinese five spice and the BBQ sauce!

So there you are - want something different to do with the other half of a pulled pork joint?  Raid the fridge! 


SWEET CHILLI PORK STIR FRY   (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 medium onions, peeled, quartered and sliced thickly
1 red capsicum pepper, cored, de-seeded and sliced thinly
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1 courgette, sliced into batons
4 broccoli florets, quartered
500g cold cooked pulled pork
100ml sweet chilli sauce
75ml barbecue sauce
1 tbsp Mirrin
1 tbsp Fish sauce.

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a wok and add the onions.  Cook on a high temperature until softened and just beginning to caramelise, stirring all the time, then add the red pepper.  Continue cooking and stirring until the red pepper has softened.

2.  Add the five spice and stir to combine.  Add the courgette pieces together with the broccoli and continue to cook and stir for another couple of minutes.  Add approx 100ml of warm water and cover the pan.  Let the contents steam for around 3-5 minutes, pausing to stir once in this process.

3.  Add the pork, chilli sauce, barbecue sauce, mirrin and fish sauce and stir to combine.

4.  Turn the heat down and cook for another few minutes, to allow the flavours to marry up and the pork to heat through sufficiently.

5.  Serve on a bed of white rice.

Printable recipe

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!

 

Look what you made happen yesterday!

One thousand page views!

(click on the picture if you can't quite see)

Words fail me .... you guys are completely brilliant!

Thank you.

GROUP HUG!

Slow Cooker Braised Pulled Pork

Oh my goodness, but this Pulled Pork interest is turning up some cracking recipes!

This one came about because we just couldn't resist a piece of pork shoulder that had been marked down in Asda.  Needless to say, we put it straight into the freezer and then worked out what to do with it.

There was some interest in keeping it for Christmas, but when we thought about Christmas, there didn't seem to be a space for it in our plans.  Then, when son & heir's birthday hove into view and we needed to devote many pennies to that cause, we began to wonder what we had in the freezer that could be press-ganged into use.  The obvious thing to do with the pork was to just roast it and have it for Sunday lunch.

However, because the BBQ pulled pork that I'd made was so good, I was interested in carrying it a little bit sideways and maybe not involving so many flavours, but letting the pork speak for itself.

It was a big old piece - around 2kg - and so it would be perfect for this, as we could dress the leftovers any way we wanted with additional flavours and so transform the piece of pork into several dishes.

So it was decided.  I'd put the pork into the slow cooker with the normal collection of stock vegetables and we'd have a pulled pork roast dinner, then decide what to do with the rest another day.

Oh yes.  That worked - it worked beautifully.

I put the pork into the slow cooker at around 9.30 a.m. - accompanied by the usual suspects of carrots, celery, garlic, onion, parsley etc.  I kept the cooker on high all day, as it really was a very chunky piece of pork and I did want to pull it apart.

When it came time to remove the pork, my goodness but it was just falling apart.  Because I'd left the thick fat along the top, this had been slowly rendering down all day and trickling through the meat, keeping it succulent and juicy.

Now normally, I'd run the stock through a sieve and throw away the stock veggies - which always hurt, as they look so soft and unctuous after cooking with the meat.  It really is a wonder I hadn't thought of doing this myself - but I recently saw a lady on t.v. use a hand held blender to whizz the stock veggies into the stock for an incredibly tasty gravy.  This fits so well with my "don't waste a thing!" ethos that I had resolved to do the same the first chance I got.

So I picked out the woody stems of the herbs, plus the garlic.  I'm not that keen on heavily garlicked gravies and sauces - but feel free to leave them there if you try this and are very keen on garlic!  The stock veggies didn't argue and disappeared into a lovely russet coloured, enriched stock - which tasted absolutely divine.

I added a little Essential Cuisine Veal stock powder (just a small teaspoonful) to help bring out the meatiness, plus a little salt and pepper and it was ready for thickening into a gorgeous gravy.

I've frozen another two helpings of the stock, one to go with the other half of the pork - which I've also frozen - and another which may very well become soup!  Liquid gold!

The pork, with some gravy and a dot of apple sauce, was utterly gorgeous.  No other word for it.  Soft, tender, unctuous, well flavoured, sweet, savoury, tiny sour notes from the apples - just divine.

For me, this pork beat the BBQ version into a cocked hat.  Given the choice, I'd have this one any day - and BBQ it up, if I wanted it to go that way!

So the next time you have a piece of pork shoulder that you don't know what to do with, either break out the slow cooker, or put it in the bottom of the oven on low for some 8 hours or so.  You won't regret it!

SLOW COOKER BRAISED PULLED PORK  (serves 6-7)

Ingredients :

2kg piece of pork shoulder, fat and skin on
1 large carrot, sliced thickly
2 large celery sticks, chopped into large pieces
2 garlic cloves, still in their jackets but bashed with the back of a knife
1 onion, peeled and cut into 4 quarters
1 bunch parsley (around 10g)
1 bunch tarragon (around 10g)
1 Knorr chicken stock pot
1 Knorr herb infusion stock pot
sea salt & black pepper
1 tsp veal stock powder (optional)
cornflour.

Method :

1.  Fairly early in the morning, place the carrot pieces into the bottom of the slow cooker to form a trivet.

2.  Place the pork - skin side up - on the carrots.

3.  Throw the remaining ingredients except the stock pots, into the slow cooker with gay abandon.

4.  Make up the two stock pots (together in the same jug) with 800g hot water and decant into the slow cooker.

5.  Sprinkle the top of the pork with a tiny pinch of sea salt and a whole heap of black pepper.

6.  Put the lid on, turn it on to High and forget about it for the next 7 hours.

7.  Remove the lid and place the pork onto a warmed plate.  Cover with tin foil and leave to rest while you deal with the stock.

8.  Remove the garlic (unless you're particularly keen on garlicky gravy!) and the woody stems of the herbs and discard.

9.  Blitz with a hand-held blender until all the vegetables have disappeared.

10.  Decant as much of the stock as you anticipate you'll need for gravy into a saucepan.  the remainder can be cooled and frozen for use another day.

11.  To thicken the gravy, use approximately 1 tablespoonful of cornflour per third of the quantity of the stock.  So, if you're using all the stock, you'll need around 3 tablespoonfuls.  I used a third of the stock, so I used just the one tablespoonful.  Slake the cornflour with a little water, until you have a runny paste.

12.  Pour half the cornflour mixture into the gravy and begin to heat it through to a simmer, whisking all the time to prevent the gravy forming lumps.  Once it has thickened, you will be able to know how much of the remainder of the cornflour you will need to obtain your preferred thickness.

13.  Once the gravy is done, uncover the pork and carefully remove the skin and thick fat.  (You can hang this fat from the nearest tree for the birdies, once it has cooled.  It's also good entertainment for the local cats and dogs - who will sit beneath it trying to exercise telekinesis in order to get at it).  Begin to pull the meat apart into shreds.  This is a perfect opportunity to remove any lumpy bits of fat, which are quite unpleasant to discover on your fork.

14.  You can serve this pork in any way you so desire.  I served mine as part of a roast dinner.

Printable version

 

Normal service will be resumed following Wimborne Food Festival!

That about says it, really!

We went to Wimborne Food Festival today - which was great fun, we met the lovely Noreen Larry with her daughter and the beautiful ladies from Strawberry Fields - but goodness, I was exhausted and sooo cold when we got home.

Kudos must go to hubby, who pushed me around the Food Festival without a murmur of complaint (I'm wheelchair bound, you see) - and it was no mean feat, as the paths are bumpy and really very narrow!  Son and heir acted as my temporary walking stick for bits that were impossible to negotiate by wheelchair, so many thanks go to him too.

I'm having a warm up and normal service will hopefully return tomorrow, when I've had a chance to recoup some energy.  Then, I can tell you all about it!

Old fashioned Buttermilk Chicken & Bacon in the Slow Cooker

No those aren't burned carrots - they're purple!

I have had it in mind for ages now, to try and re-create a Chicken Casserole flavour from my youth.  I have carried the memory of this flavour down through the years and always intended to find my way back to it, eventually.

The casserole used to be cooked by my Mum and was very obviously chicken, but with some quite largish pieces of smoked bacon (that I used to pick out and enjoy eating), in a light coloured but very tasty sauce.  I had a vague memory that she also used a bouquet garni - but got sidetracked along the line and went for thyme and tarragon in the end.

I don't remember when we used to have this meal - I suspect it was probably one of my Mum's weekday repertoire as I remember it so well.  I can remember there being just one problem with the dish, in that every so often you'd find a small piece of crumbly matter in the gravy which I always took to be very well-cooked chicken marrowbone.  I can remember it used to make my stomach heave - but the rest of the casserole was so tasty, it was worth chancing coming across one of these little lumps.

I was very determined not to have anything resembling chicken marrowbone in my dish!

Well, I'm not sure that I made it back to that flavour totally - but the dish that I wound up with is just so lovely that it will stand as a recipe on its own.

I dare say that I'm not alone in finding chicken terribly expensive all of a sudden?  We've had to stop buying just chicken breasts for our chicken dinners these days and have opted for one breast with a combination of leg portions, or thigh portions, to make up the remainder.  I have even been known to buy a whole (small) chicken and joint it, for use in dishes like this.  Yes, I have finally managed to joint a chicken without getting cross with it.  My wonderful poultry shears have made all the difference.  I just use them to cut out the backbone, then it is an easy job to separate out the leg and wing pieces and fillet out the breasts.  I should apologise to the poor chickens that I mangled, whilst learning this process!

Being cooked in the slow cooker, of course the chicken is just so succulent and tender.  The pieces of chicken breast stay incredibly moist and the leg meat just collapses and adds to the gorgeous melange.  I made sure, when I originally cut up the leg portions, to run the cut ends of the bones under the tap and so get rid of any loose bits and pieces.

Having the whole shallots is great too - I was so glad I didn't chop them up - as they become soft squishy bundles of sweet oniony, chickeny loveliness.

I was glad that I'd opted to put a tablespoonful of the fresh tarragon in to cook at the beginning of the process as that lent a very mature flavour to the gravy.  Adding the fresh tarragon at the end just brightened up the flavours and helped the dish look appealing.

The buttermilk is an interesting addition, don't you think?  It was far lighter than adding yoghurt or creme fraiche, and took the gravy down a very slightly tangy route that was helped along by the squirt of lemon juice.  What could have wound up a very heavy, muddy flavoured stew wound up being light, tangy and full of different flavours.

Just look at those carrots - they're certainly different!

I served the chicken with some "Rainbow Carrots" as Asda so romantically called them - there were purple, yellow, white and the classic orange in the pack and they were fun to have, along with some broccoli and green peas.  Just be aware, when peeling the purple carrots, that like all purple food they will stain anything they come into contact with - including the white carrots!  Still, it all made for a lovely colourful and healthy-looking dish.

Hubby agreed with me that the dish had a flavour that took you back to the Seventies and beyond.  It was a flavour that you'd very definitely had before, but the difficult was putting your finger on where and when!  Son and heir thoroughly enjoyed the dish and (hopefully), we'll have created a "flavour of yore" that, you never know, he might find himself searching for in his own kitchen in years to come.

My Mum reads the blog, so I'd be very interested if she was to cook this and let me know what she thinks!  Of course, it doesn't have to be cooked in a slow cooker, put into a low oven (150degC or so) for 2-3 hours would probably do the same job.

Oh, and if you're having problems finding Buttermilk in your supermarket, don't worry - just add a teaspoonful of lemon juice to 280ml of milk and stir gently.  Within seconds, you'll have a Buttermilk equivalent.  Easy - and probably cheaper!


BUTTERMILK CHICKEN & BACON  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 boneless chicken breast and 2 leg portions
9 rashers of smoked back bacon, cut into chunky pieces
150g shallots, peeled & kept whole
250g baby new potatoes
1 tsp dried thyme
150ml white wine
300ml hot chicken stock (I used Essential Cuisine's chicken stock powder)
280ml buttermilk
a squeeze of lemon juice
1-2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tbsp cornflour.

Method :

1.  Cut the chicken breast into three equally sized pieces and separate the leg portions out into drumstick and thigh pieces - trim off any loose pieces of skin and fat.

2.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the chicken for around 10 minutes (although the breast pieces won't take as long, so you can include them when you've turned the leg pieces), until it has gained a lovely golden colour.  Remove and put into the slow cooker, which you can now turn onto low.

3.  Put the bacon pieces and the whole shallots into the frying pan and cook until the fat has reduced from the bacon and the shallots have gained a little colour.  Put the lot into the slow cooker.

4.  Add the white wine to the pan and frizzle for a moment to reduce the alcohol in the wine.  Then add the stock, thyme and one tbsp of the tarragon.  Once the liquid is up to heat, decant into the slow cooker.

5.  Cut any large baby new potatoes into two and add them to the slow cooker.  Replace the lid and turn the slow cooker up to high.  Forget about it, for the next 4-6 hours.

6.  When the chicken is falling from the bone, with a slotted spoon remove it from the slow cooker onto a plate and remove the bone and gristle and discard them.  Cover the meat with silver foil and keep in a warm place while you deal with the gravy.

7.  Remove the potatoes from the slow cooker and put them with the chicken under the silver foil.

8.  To the gravy in the slow cooker, add the buttermilk and lemon juice and stir well.

9.  Taste for seasoning and add a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

10.  If the gravy is thinner than your preference, take 1-2 tbsp of cornflour in a small bowl and slake with a little water, until you have a runny paste.  Pour half of this mixture into the slow cooker, whisking like fury to make sure no lumps appear.  If the consistency still requires more thickening, add the last half and whisk again.

11.  Finally, add the remaining tbsp of fresh tarragon and stir it in.

12.  Serve the chicken and potato mixture with the gravy poured over, along with some steamed vegetables.

Printable version

 

The latest meal plan - making the most of what is in already!

October is a month of great import in the Jenny Eatwell household, for it harbors the birthday of son & heir.  He is in the interesting position of having been born on Halloween - 31st October.  Well, we've never been at a loss for party themes, if nothing else.

It's funny how these things work, as having been born on Halloween, we got to take the little chap home from the hospital on Guy Fawkes night.  We always thought he'd turn out to be some kind of scientist, but it appears that he's dead set (see what I did there?) on being a Bass guitarist.

As he's grown older, the expense of his birthday hasn't lessened in any way at all.  At one time, he wanted to entertain large groups of friends at the local soft play area, then we moved on to parties at home and from there to rather more select gatherings of friends who attended cinema viewings.  For instance, one year, he went with a friend to the local cinema's premiere of Quantum of Solace, which just happened to be on the very day.  He's currently on course to see Skyfall very soon after its release date.  So, for all that the parties have got more affordable, the days of being able to buy him a Nerf gun and knowing he'll be bowled over by it, are long gone.

Oh to be so young, so good looking and to have such a view!

All of which might go a little way towards explaining why hubby and I were taking inventory of what we had in the cupboards and freezer, before doing this week's meal plan!


I think it's good to have a bit of a stock take from time to time, as there are inevitably single chicken legs that get pushed to the back of the freezer and half packs of pasta that end up crammed beside the cans in the cupboards.

So, here's what we're planning on having, this week :

Tues : Bacon, cheddar & sundried tomato risotto

Wed : Smoked Brie & asparagus tart with watercress salad and mini roast potatoes

Thurs : Bacon & onion pudding, carrot & swede mash, green beans and peas

Fri : Pork & Apple Sausage Rolls with baked beans & hash browns.

Sat : Veal Marsala with carrots, broccoli, beans and mashed potatoes

Sun : Pulled pork with roast potatoes & parsnips, creamed courgette & mushrooms, peas, carrots and Yorkshire Puddings

Mon : Beef mince & stuff.

Shallots - check!

In order to make Tuesday's risotto, the only thing we needed to buy were some shallots.  We already had the bacon, cheddar and sundried tomatoes, risotto rice, stock and herbs in the kitchen.

Wednesday's Smoked Brie & Asparagus tart is born of a trip to The Dorset Smokery last Saturday - fantastic little gem of a place, do go if you're in the area (Hurn, in Dorset).  We picked up a piece of their lovely smoked Brie and it was just asking to be used in a more interesting way than simply on crackers.  I also had the Filo pastry in the fridge, left over from last week's Goats cheese, leek & hazelnut tart.  I've still got an avocado for the salad and of course, the potatoes are always in the cupboard.

The Bacon & Onion Pudding I sampled at Harvey's Restaurant, Poole

Thursday's Bacon & onion pudding is one which perhaps we shouldn't shout about too loudly, as it is about as good for us as a large Devon Cream tea.  However, it is something that we've been wanting to make for a very long time - and hubby has finally caved and volunteered to the task.  We'll have to buy in the bacon and vegetables to go with it, but everything else is in the cupboards.

This is going to be an exciting one, as neither of us has made a steamed suet-style pudding in the past.  We're planning on using the slow cooker to steam it - which is how my Mum cooks her Christmas Puddings, so should work perfectly.

Oh dear, I've just reminded myself that I've volunteered to cook the family's Christmas Puddings this year.  I must have been mad.

Anyway - that brings us on to Friday's Pork & Apple Sausage Rolls, which will consist of the leftovers from the Pulled Pork that I made for last Sunday's dinner, with some additional sausagemeat and apple from our fruit stocks in the fridge.  We've always got baked beans in the cupboard and might have to buy in some Hash Browns, depending on how many are left in the freezer and whether I decide I want one, or not!

Saturday's Veal Marsala, is just a simple matter of providing the vegetables to go with it - which will be a combination of newly bought in and leftovers from the week.  We have got the veal in the freezer already and we finally managed to lay our hands on a bottle of Marsala the other week.  Everything else I might require for the veal, I've already got.

Just like this - but with different veggies!

Sunday's Pulled Pork roast dinner is using up the other half of the 2kg Pork Shoulder joint that we bought at a marked down price a couple of weeks ago.  Once the meat had cooled, I separated it into three roast dinner portions in one bag and the remainder went into another bag that I'm using for the sausage rolls, above.  Again, we'll just need to provide the vegetables to go with this - I've even frozen a portion of the stock that I used for the gravy.

Not a million miles from this - but with more colour!

Monday's Mince & Stuff (its official title) is a family favourite.  Basically, it is a pack of beef mince that gets browned to the point of caramelisation, together with cooked rice and any old thing that you might happen across in the way of additional ingredients.  So any bits of leftover vegetables will get used up here (particularly the mushrooms and courgettes) and the only thing we've bought in for it will be a yellow capsicum pepper.  Onion is a definite ingredient, as is garlic, along with some denomination of spicing (cumin and coriander, or paprika maybe - we've three types of paprika to choose from).  Mince & stuff is one of the pilaff-type dishes that is very forgiving and accepts just about anything and everything you want to throw at it.

With a little dollop of my spiced rhubarb chutney alongside, it just can't go wrong.

Well, I'm looking forward to this week - I dunno about anyone else!  Just don't remind me about those Christmas Puddings ....