Rose Veal - the continuing story!

Pic c/o http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t0bv

Did you see Countryfile (on BBC1) this week?  If not, I'm sure it is available still on the Iplayer (here), so you can have a peek if you want.  I only mention it because they re-visited the issue of rose veal.  (Incidentally, is there a definitive version for the name "Rose" or "Rosé" veal?).


Since my earlier rant on the subject (see here), I have had cause to talk to many different people (thank you, one and all) who seem to be coming at the veal thing from lots of different angles and with lots of different viewpoints.  The amazing point about all this, is that everyone seems to have a differing view on where the veal situation is at in Great Britain.


It is staggering, to me, how many people who are supposedly working in the area of veal - in one way or another - have no idea about how the welfare standards for the production of veal in this country have improved.  So many of them still believe that veal is produced in the appalling crate system, which has been abolished in this country - and has been for years.  On the continent and if you're particularly looking for so-called "milk veal" or "white veal", then you can expect to find veal that has been produced in this barbaric way - although having said that, the welfare standards in some countries are fast following in GB's wake.

So if the people who are working in meat production/butchery/meat supply still believe that British Rose Veal is produced in this manner - is it any wonder that the public are still in the dark?  


This is why programmes such as Countryfile - that go out in a prime time evening slot and broadcast the good news about Rose Veal, are so important.


We have to get the message across to the general public that Rose Veal is as viable a product as any other meat product - and that the old (justified) reasons for outlawing it are over, provided you opt for British Rose Veal.


So let's take a look at what happens, currently - and as far as I understand it - to a male calf born to a dairy cow.


In some dairies, male calves are shot within days of having been born.  This is because of a) the understanding that it is uneconomical to produce these calves to an age where they can become meat producing, and b) the understanding (incorrect) that dairy breeds are incapable of producing enough musculature to make them viable for meat.

Now, personally, I would far rather these unfortunate calves are shot at an early age, if their only other alternative is to be shipped out to meat producers who might be some hours away - or even, God forbid, in another country.  The miserable conditions that calves often have to endure - and very often die on the way - in circumstances such as these would, I think, make anyone want to end their suffering before it happens.


However, this isn't their only alternative.


Now I do realise that not every diary farmer is able to do this - but I feel sure that those who, for reasons of space, or manpower, or whatever, can't keep their bull calves at home, with some co-operation between farms, should be able to send their calves a short distance to a farm that can keep them at home and produce them up to an appropriate age for the production of Rose Veal.  After all, it would seem that there are farms out there that do just that - take calves from dairies and produce Rose Veal, as their main source of income.

Ah, but - and you knew there was a "but" coming, didn't you - let's think about the calves' death.  Yes, I know, it's difficult - but if you're going to eat meat then how the animals die should be as much on your agenda as how they lived.


You see, this is where the supermarkets aren't helping matters.  It would seem - on the surface - that to be a veal producer for a supermarket would be a good thing.  Assured income for a steady supply.  However, look at the arrangements for converting the "on the hoof" veal to "in the polystyrene tray" veal and the rot begins to set in.  As a veal producer for a supermarket, you cannot take your calves to your local abbatoir (where you may very well know the workers, know their practices and be extremely happy that your animals will be respected and treated with care right through to an easy end) because said supermarket has a designated abbatoir which has been checked out by the supermarket as meeting all its requirements for animal welfare etc.  The problem is, that this designated abbatoir may very well be some six hours or more away from the farm.  Not good - not good at all.  Have you seen those diabolical multi-storey animal carriers?  I wouldn't want any veal calf of mine to have to travel to its end on one of those.  Call me a softie, but that's the way it is.  I just don't see why the veal can't travel once it has no pulse.


The obvious way around all this, it would seem to me, would be if more farms would be prepared to market and sell their own meat.  There would be multiple benefits to doing this, as from the animals' point of view it would cut down on the undesirable welfare issues I've set out above and from the consumer's point of view, it would cut out the middle men who consistently put their mark-up onto a piece of veal, until it reaches the astronomical prices being asked by the supermarkets - which would result in lower prices to the consumer.  From the farmer's point of view, it puts the money directly into their pocket with the added benefit of being able to provide the kind of life - and the kind of death - that the majority of farmers would choose for their animals.

c/o "Cows that Type" by Doreen Cronin

Now this all depends, of course, on how much it costs a farmer to take a new born dairy bull calf and produce it up to veal age.  On this subject, I've received no end of conflicting information - and again, it all depends who you speak to and what their angle is.  So, to get the true low-down on the subject, the lovely Louise Trowbridge of The Uncommon Pig has got in touch with me and offered to link me in on their project to raise two of their own dairy bull veal calves for a charity supper in November.  Louise is proposing to follow the costs of raising these two, from which I hope we'll be able to have a fairly (allowing for differences in cost across the country) definitive view of just how much it is likely to cost a farmer to raise a calf for veal.


I find this whole question of veal to be enormously interesting and filled with more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel.  As such, this story is by no means over and I think you can expect to find more blog posts appearing that deal with veal as Louise and I establish a method to work together  - but I also hope that you'll find your curiosity piqued by the insight into how the meat producing machine works in the U.K. - as written by a relative newbie to the whole process!

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"Meals on Wheels" week 1 - menu planning for four!

My dear old Dad, who has just passed his 80th birthday, is due to go into hospital at the end of this month, for heart surgery.

Well, you can imagine how we all feel about that - but however we feel, it isn't half as bad as how my Mum feels about it all.  My brother has volunteered his car and his chauffeuring skills to take her to and from the hospital each day to visit, but I was wondering what we could do to ease the burden a little bit for her too - which in turn, will make it easier for my Dad to recuperate.  Oh, it's all wheels within wheels!

Now obviously, cooking comes to mind.  However, I didn't want to suggest that I cook some single-person meals for her and so remove a pleasant occupation that might keep her brain involved and slow down the worry a little.  But then, it occurred to me that there are bound to be days when either she will have had a stressful day, or alternatively she won't get back home until late - and she won't feel like breaking out the chopping board and getting on with some cooking.  So, I suggested it to her and she (amazingly - because my Mum is a great cook) accepted.

Which is why this menu plan blog post is entitled "Meals on Wheels" week 1 - as we're including several meals where we're cooking for one person extra and stashing that portion away in the freezer, for onward transmission to my Mum when we go to see them both on Sunday - Father's Day, don'tcha know!

Just in case you wonder whether I've forgotten my Dad in all this, far from it - I'm lending him my Kindle for his hospital stay and have loaded up the current tome on Arnhem that he's reading, plus several books that deal with his old Army regiment - the Royal Engineers - and their work in the Far East, plus some humour, some thrillers and a few books that I thought might be outside of his own choice but that might be interesting to read when you've got nothing else to do!  I've also dug out a couple of CD's that he might like to listen to on his Sony Walkman.

So, Operation Hospital has swung into action!

Here's how it's looking at the moment (although it could be subject to change!) :

Tues : Pepperoni & Mozzarella Millefeuille with salad

Weds : Sausage Casserole with mashed potatoes

Thurs : Spaghetti Bolognese

Fri : Tave Me Presh with mashed potato and peas

Sat : Rose Veal with mushrooms & cider, new potatoes, carrots & broccoli

Sun : anybody's guess!

Mon : Beef curry & mushroom rice.

It's not a dazzling array of meals, but looking at the weather, it's unlikely that we'll be breaking out the barbecue any time soon, or feeling much like salad!

As for the Meals on Wheels project, well I think the Sausage Casserole, Spaghetti Bolognese, Tave Me Presh and Rose Veal are all definites.

Pic c/o whatsgabycooking.com

Tonight's Pepperoni & Mozzarella Millefeuille is something that hubby has pulled together in his feverish imagination - but that sounds pretty darned promising.  It all started when we bought some extra pepperoni and mozzarella to go in last week's Stromboli (which didn't happen in the end).  He's built the recipe around those two ingredients, but without travelling too far in the pizza direction.  I can't say too much about it at the moment, as I really don't have much idea of where he's going with it - so you'll have to wait and see what happens!

A lentil version of a Sausage Casserole - but still yummy!

Now everyone loves a Sausage Casserole, don't they?  Yes, of course they do.  We haven't made one in ages and, because we're including my Mum in this one, are going to have to keep an eye on what we're using ingredients-wise.  She has a number of ingredients that she's sensitive to, such as peppers, sweetcorn and some spices.  However, I don't see that as a problem.  We've become quite good at thinking up alternatives and co-ordinating flavours, so I'm looking forward to this one.  It'll be lovely to have some yummy gravy, sopped up with mashed potato - a hark back to winter!  Yes, I know it's June, but you honestly wouldn't believe it, to look out the window.  Mum will have to either make some mashed potato to go with this one, or buy some already made from the supermarket - but it has to be easier than starting from scratch!

Spaghetti Bolognese was a shoe-in when we were considering what to make.  We'll box up some of the Bolognese sauce, so that all Mum has to do is cook some spaghetti - or any pasta, really - and heat up the sauce.  Easy peasy.

The Tave Me Presh (or baked mince with leeks) is one of my favourite comfort food dinners.  However, as Mum can't cope with red pepper, I'll use carrots and some asparagus instead - which will give just elevate the flavours a little.  This is another one that you can eat with mashed potato - or to ring the changes, with rice.  Again, Mum will have to make a little rice to go with it and can maybe throw in a handful of frozen peas in the last few minutes of cooking time.  Luscious!

As for the Rose Veal with mushrooms & cider, well this all depends on whether the box of rose veal arrives from the lovely people at Farmers Choice, who have offered to send me a gift box of veal with which to work.  This all originated with my blog post on Veal and I'm hugely appreciative of their kindness with regard to this offer.

I'm hoping that there will be something in the box that will be able to be made into the veal with mushrooms and cider - if not, I'll be thinking again!

Sunday, being Father's Day, is all a bit of a mystery right now.  Not because we've got any  mysterious ideas cooking in the background, but because Hubby can't think of anything in particular that he'd like to have to eat on that day - and is still thinking!

Monday brings the return of the poor old Beef Curry, which must be getting something of an inferiority complex as it's been bumped from two weeks' menus so far!  I will make it, I will!

As for extra makes or bakes, well, I don't really think we're going to have a lot of time for that this week.  Then again, I'm determined to make that Peach Cobbler some time this week as it was another victim of the alarming cuts that got made to the menu list last week!  But then, who knows what might turn up in the post that needs blogging about!

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Beef Silverside & Mushroom Pie - a classic "leftovers" pie

We knew that, with just the three of us eating from a 1kg piece of Silverside, there would be plenty of leftovers.  So, rather than use the remainder in (albeit delicious) sandwiches, I thought we'd do something a bit more useful and make a pie.

There was a good five or six slices left - and the smaller offcuts - so I had plenty of beef and didn't need to pad the filling out with lots of veggies.  So for all that it is called a "Silverside & Mushroom Pie", it was in fact a beef, onion & mushroom pie.

Now anyone who has been following this blog for a while, will know that I've had something of a chequered history with pies.  The big problem, it would seem, is that I rarely get the sauce/gravy consistency right.  It is either too thin, or too thick.  Too much, or not enough.

I was determined, with this pie, to get it right.

As such, I'd made sure that hubby kept any leftover gravy and stock from braising the beef the day before - so I had a great base to start with.

I kicked off proceedings by cooking two sliced onions until they were soft and golden - just starting to caramelise and deliver that lovely fried onion flavour.  I then added the mushrooms and quickly cooked them - not completely - but enough that they obtained a hint of colour.

Next, in went yesterday's gravy and the gravy that the sliced meat had sat in (in the fridge) since the day previous - and tasted.  Mmmn, nice - but not robust enough.

So, I then added two bay leaves, a half an Oxo cube (which helped with the beefy flavour and added a little salt), a teaspoonful of Bovril to boost the beefy flavour even further, a good glug or three of Worcestershire Sauce (which always helps beef dishes along a bit) and a dessertspoonful of tomato ketchup (which delivers a mix of spices that it is very difficult to find elsewhere, plus a little sweetness).

I gave that lot time to blend together as the gravy simmered, then tasted again.  Oooh yes, now we're talking - but it needed to be thicker and could do with a good grind or three of black pepper.  Pepper duly added, I rummaged in the cupboard and found a jar of Bisto "best rich & roasted beef" gravy granules.  Ordinarily, I'd opt for some flour or cornflour to thicken a gravy, but something made me use the gravy granules.  You need to be careful about how much salt is in the gravy already, as gravy granules can really deliver an intense salty hit, if you're not careful.  In this case, just a couple of tablespoonfuls made all the difference to the gravy, making it glossy, thick and oh so flavoursome.  Thinking on, although I was a tad embarrassed at using gravy granules, it occurred to me that it was really no worse than using a stock cube, in the context with which I was using it.  After all, I'm not exactly just adding water, stirring and calling it gravy.

Once I had the gravy where I wanted it, I added the beef (which I'd chopped into bite sized pieces) and heated it all through while the oven warmed up and I got the pastry ready.

This really was a superb pie.  I think the closest I can get to it would be the Kate & Wills' Wedding Pie, but it would be close run thing to judge between them.

The beef was tender, the mushrooms delicious and the onions had just melted away into the gravy.  The gravy had all the benefit of the beef having been cooked in it, plus the effect of the red wine, which boosted its depth and flavour.  The consistency of the gravy was perfect in that it coated the ingredients but still had enough movement to ooze from the pie into the accompanying vegetables.

Goodness, just thinking back and remembering the flavours is making my tummy rumble - which is testimony to just how good the pie was, I think!

I won't set out a recipe for the pie, as the ingredients - particularly for the gravy - very much depend on what was used to cook the beef in to begin with.  However, I hope this blog post will act as inspiration for you to give a go to making a pie with the leftovers from your next piece of roast beef - if you have any, that is!

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Slow Cooker Braised Silverside of Beef

Multiple gorgeousnesses

You might remember I mentioned that our local butcher is selling silverside at a remarkably good price - £4.95 a kilo.  Well, we couldn't leave such a great offer in the shop, now could we?

Silverside comes from the back leg of the animal - above the leg and below the buttock, effectively.  The piece of silverside we brought home was a really nice-looking piece of beef, with fine lines of fat marbling through the meat that would ensure it stayed juicy when cooked.  For some strange reason, the butcher had attached extra fat to the joint of meat which we were quick to remove.  Well, for our purposes - we were braising in stock - we didn't need the extra fat and the dogs were happy to take it off our hands.

For all that we were keen to have a proper roast beef dinner that Sunday, I couldn't help but worry whether roasting the beef would render it tender enough.  I know that hubby and son & heir have textural issues with their food and tough meat is a guaranteed no-no for the both of them.  So this is why we opted for the guaranteed tenderiser of the slow cooker.

Hubby was in charge - as it was Sunday - and he put the beef into a lovely broth of assorted flavours that smelled awesome as the day progressed.

This photograph makes my teeth itch to get stuck in again!

When it came to serving time, between the smells from the gravy, the meat, the roasting vegetables and Yorkshire puddings, I was in a welter of anticipation.  I had my little pot of horseradish sauce and another of mustard, my knife and fork were in their blocks and ready for the off.  I felt like one of the Bisto kids!

Roast beef has to be my favourite Sunday meal.  Now okay, this beef wasn't "roasted" as tradition would dictate but boy oh boy, it was very close to it.  Succulent and robust, each slice just danced across your tongue accompanied by the tangy horseradish - just bliss.

So if your butcher is doing a special offer on silverside and you've got a slow cooker - don't hesitate, just get some!

SLOW COOKER BRAISED SILVERSIDE OF BEEF  (feeds 3 with plenty left for a pie the next day)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1kg piece of silverside of beef

100ml beef stock (from a cube or made with Bovril is fine)

100ml Shiraz red wine

2 bay leaves

1 large onion, coarsely sliced

2 garlic cloves, smashed, with skins left on

1 carrot cut lengthways and into chunks

a tsp of whole black peppercorns

a tsp of herbes de provence

half a tsp of Worcestershire sauce

half a tsp of Mushroom ketchup.

Method :

1.  Into the slow cooker , add all the ingredients except for the oil and the beef.  Turn the slow cooker on to high, to get them all heated through.

2.  Take a non-stick frying pan and on a high heat, heat the oil until sizzling.  Then seal the beef on all sides, leaving it long enough to get a crusty, caramelised surface that will help the "roasted" flavour.

3.  Place the beef carefully into the stock in the slow cooker.

4.  Pour any liquid fat out of the frying pan, then add a ladleful of the stock from the slow cooker to deglaze the pan.  Pour back into the slow cooker, add the lid and cook on high for some 5-6 hours.

5.  Once the cooking time is up, remove the beef and cover in tin foil.  Leave it to rest in a warm place for up to half an hour.

6.  In the meantime, drain the cooking liquor through a sieve into a saucepan to make the gravy.  Begin by bringing the liquid to a gentle boil and allow the liquid to reduce by a quarter - just enough to concentrate the flavours.  It is probably best to judge it by taste, as to how far you reduce the liquor.

7.  Once reduced sufficiently, slake a dessertspoonful of cornflour with a little water - just enough to make it mobile - and add, by degrees, to the gravy, stirring constantly.

8.  Once the gravy achieves the desired consistency, carve the meat and serve.

Printable version

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Strawberry & Raspberry Amaretto Gateau for the Jubilee Weekend

For ages, the Jubilee weekend was just something crepuscular and ephemeral that was likely to happen around us, but not really involve us, here at Eatwell Towers.  Right up until little more than a week beforehand, when I found myself being sucked in to the holiday vibe that was playing around the whole event.

It's not that I'm anti-royal (having worked for Historic Royal Palaces Agency for nearly ten years, that's highly unlikely), or have any antipathy towards the Jubilee in a Morrisey kind of way, it's just that it felt rather as though it was all happening in London and so didn't really affect us here in Dorset.

Sponge cakes look promising!

As the weekend got closer, I began to twig on to the fact that there was going to be quite a lot (for "quite a lot", read "huge amounts") of coverage on the t.v. which would probably be worth watching simply from a historical "I saw that" point of view.

I had, of course, known about the activity surrounding the Jubilee that the blogging world was devoting to the cause - but that wasn't anything new.  After all, there only has to be a "Green Pea Day" and out come all the blogs detailing green pea recipes, (mine amongst them, very often!) so it was only to be expected that there would be heaps of baking blogs going bonkers with cupcakes in the shape of corgis, crowns and all things royal.

Yes, very promising. Fingers crossed they cut okay!

My inner resistance towards being a sheep (apologies to everyone who feels they may fall into the sheepy category) was what was stopping me from scheduling in a big old Jubilee High Tea, with Charles & Camilla's favourite scones, Kate & Wills' favourite chocolate biscuit cake et al - and blogging about it.  So because of this inner battle of mine, this is why I wound up making an almost last minute whizz bang spiffingly enormous creamy and alcoholic gateau.  Yes, you'll find me at the back of the flock following on apologetically.

Well, in my own defence, it just didn't seem right to be a) on a Sunday, b) in June, c) in the televisual presence of royalty and d) following on from Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, to have anything else except an enormous confection of cake, summer berries and a dash of alcohol.

Royals to one side for a moment, I was jolly glad I did - as the Gateau was absolutely To.Die.For.

I had said in my meal planning post for that week, that I was musing upon making a fruit sponge of some sort, so the thought was in my head even then.  However, it grew from a simple summer fruit sponge as time went along.  It's probably just as well the Jubilee happened when it did, before I'd had a chance to consider coating the lot in chocolate or something equally damaging to our waistlines.  I think it probably did enough damage as it was!

After adding the syrup - just look at the lovely texture!

The sponge was a simple "bung it all in together, whisk it up, put it in sandwich tins, bake it" sponge cake.  However, it was when hubby mentioned a gateau and I hit upon the idea of cutting each cake into two layers, that the rot set in.

I had a punnet of strawberries and a punnet of raspberries that we'd picked up as having been marked down in price, so I had the fruit there - and I'd bought a carton of double cream just because I anticipated requiring it for the fruit.

Raspberry layer in place

Now fruit and cream would be good - very good - in between each layer, but I wanted to make this gateau more gateau-like - sumptuous, delicious and naughty.  Hubby reminded me that we had a bottle of Amaretto liqueur in the cupboard and so the idea of the Amaretto syrup was born.  It was a simple matter to melt some sugar in water and add 50ml or so of Amaretto to it - then let it cool as the cakes cooled.  Once everything was cool, I brushed the syrup onto each layer of cake and let it soak in.

After that, it was just slather on the cream, add the sliced fruits and layer it up.  Do a simple little decoration on top, add a little icing sugar and ta daaa!  The Jubilee Gateau was born.

Hand me a fork and make it snappy!

Even though I knew the gateau was four layers tall, when hubby brought the slices through for dessert it still surprised me how enormous the whole thing was.  In truth, however, it was no more than a Victoria Sponge cake with extra cream and fruit instead of jam (and a hit of Amaretto, of course).  So simple to produce - but so very effective and so very, very tasty.

STRAWBERRY & RASPBERRY AMARETTO GATEAU   (makes 6-10 slices)

Ingredients :

200g caster sugar
200g softened butter
4 beaten eggs
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 drops vanilla essence
85g caster sugar (for the syrup)
2 tbsp cold water
50ml Amaretto liqueur
300ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
strawberries & raspberries to fill.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 190degC/375degF/Gas5.  Prepare two sandwich tins by lining with a circle of baking parchment.  I included the sides of my tins in the lining, but only because they're particularly old tins - nice shiny new ones won't need this.

2.  In a large bowl (I used our Kenwood Chef) place the 200g of caster sugar, the softened butter, the eggs, the flour, baking powder and vanilla essence.  Starting slowly (so as to keep the flour in the bowl), begin to whisk the ingredients together - or beat them together, if you're particularly sprightly and are doing it by hand.  Continue to mix until you have a soft, smooth texture whereupon you can divide the mixture equally between the two tins and smooth off the top surface.

3.  Put the two tins together on the one shelf if possible, and bake for some 20 minutes or until risen, golden and the cake springs back when lightly depressed in the centre.

4.  Remove the cakes from the tins and place onto a cooling rack until perfectly cool.

5.  In the meantime, you can get on and make the Amaretto syrup.  So take a small saucepan and place the 85g of caster sugar, the water and liqueur into it.  Mix them together and heat gently until the sugar has all dissolved.  Leave to cool.

6.  To assemble the gateau, take each cake and very carefully with a sharp bread knife cut through to create two layers from each cake.  Lay each layer out separately.

7.  Taking the syrup, brush onto each cake layer, distributing the syrup equally amongst the layers until it has all gone.

8.  Whip the cream with the icing sugar until it reaches soft peaks - be careful not to take it beyond this stage.

9.  Here on in, it is a simple matter of coating each layer with cream and adding sliced strawberries and the raspberries - remembering to save a few for decoration.  I would recommend that you place the first layer onto the presentation cake plate and build the cake from there, adding cream and fruit, then a layer of cake, then cream and fruit until you reach the last layer.

10.  Simply arrange the saved fruit attractively, sprinkle over a little icing sugar snow - and serve.

Printable version

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I can spatchcock! A chicken, that is ..

Disconcertingly, it looks a tiny bit crab-like

Isn't it silly, the cookery things you look at and think "oh, now that looks a nice thing to do to a <insert ingredient of your choice>", but rule it out as being something way beyond your skill set to be able to do?

Such was spatchcocking a chicken, with me.  Until now, that is.

Mind you, I do think it is more a consecutive set of events that led up to the spatchcocking, rather than my suddenly getting brave.  You see, for Mother's Day this year dear son & heir bought me (which may seem a tad odd for the majority of the populace, but not for me) a knife block and set of kitchen knives, which included a pair of poultry shears. 

Large, mean, shearing machine!

Up until when I did the chicken, the most the shears have ever been set to do was opening a bag of spice.  However, I put them to the job they were best meant for when I decided to cut the spine out of my chicken and spatchcock it.

Ta-daaa!  One spatchcock chicken :)

Now I defy anyone with a conscience not to feel a bit weird when cutting through a chicken's rib bones, okay?  'Nuff said, methinks.

However, the whole process of turning a "ready to roast" into a "spatchcock" chicken is remarkably easy!  Just turn the little fellow upside down, with the Parson's nose to you and cut alongside the spine.  Do the same the other side, then turn it over, press down on the breastbone and in the time it takes for the ribs to give you a round of applause (okay, I know, I said I wasn't going to say any more.  I apologise), you've got a spatchcock chicken.  Just criss cross it with skewers to keep it flat in the oven, and you're there.

Following a quick bath in Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ sauce

Because I was giving the Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ Sauce a good run for its money, I wanted the flavours from the BBQ sauce to really penetrate the chicken meat.  In order to help this along a bit, I slashed (sounds so barbaric!) the legs and breast fairly deeply, which allowed the BBQ sauce to penetrate and give fabulous flavour.

Om, nom, nom!

I then put the chicken in the fridge for 4 hours or so, to marinate, before cooking that evening.

So, later on that evening, I put the chicken into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF /Gas4 and roasted it for 45 minutes.  The smell was amazing - but then anything using the El Loco BBQ sauce is going to smell amazing.  I swear, you could roast my old trainers in the stuff and they'd (almost) smell edible!

I served the chicken with some of the Ottolenghi Green Couscous, which is just the most delicious couscous ever - and paired with the piquancy and tongue-tastic flavours of the moist, succulent BBQ chicken, it really was a match made in heaven.

More om nom nom!

Owing to being flattened into one same-height layer, the chicken doesn't take as long as a normal roasting chicken would to cook in the oven, the meat stayed a lot more juicy.  Well, so it seemed to me.  Of course, maybe we were just fortunate with the chicken - but considering it was one of Asda's "cheap as chips" chickens (the only one we had time to lay our hands on), it says a lot for the method of cooking that it turned out as well as it did.

I'm seriously considering never making a conventional roast chicken again, if these results are consistent!

Leg or breast?  Who cares - hand it over!

BBQ SPATCHCOCK CHICKEN    (serves 4) 


Ingredients :

A chicken
a pair of poultry shears or a very sharp, heavy knife and a strong arm
Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ sauce - around a half a bottle (or another barbecue sauce of choice).

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas4 and prepare a roasting tin that will take the chicken with room to spare around it.  I always line the tin with non-stick silver foil, as it makes washing up so much easier!

2.  Take the chicken and turn it upside down (breast side down, that is) and with the Parson's nose pointing towards you.

3.  Insert the shears slightly to one side of the Parson's nose and begin to cut alongside the spine of the chicken, until you reach the neck opening.

4.  Then repeat for the other side of the spine - and remove it once freed.

(If you are using a knife, you'll need the chicken with its breast side uppermost and then cut alongside the spine, so that you can bear down through the bone onto a chopping board).

5.  Turn the chicken breast side up and press sharply down on the breastbone to flatten it.

6.  Once flat, take a metal skewer and run the skewer from the neck end of the breast, through the thigh and drumstick and out the other side.

7.  Take a second skewer and do the same with the opposite diagonal.

8.  With a very sharp knife, slash the breast meat and legs in several places.

9.  Rub in the BBQ sauce - taking care not to touch the chicken with the mouth of the bottle - and I recommend using one hand to rub the sauce into the chicken and the other hand to handle the sauce bottle.  You don't want to transfer raw chicken germs to the BBQ sauce bottle that you'll be putting into the fridge!

10.  You can either leave the chicken to marinate until you are ready to cook it, or just put it straight into the oven to cook for 45-50 minutes, depending on how big a chicken it is.  As ever, test the chicken is cooked by separating some of the meat with a sharp knife - if the juices run clear it's done, if there is any evidence of pink meat or pink juices (which is hard to tell with the BBQ sauce, but it's a different kind of pink to the BBQ sauce), put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes or so until the juices run clear.

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Menu plan? What menu plan?

Well, we DID make a menu plan - then it all went to worms as we shoved all the planned meals to one side and went for takeaway.

Firstly, on Tuesday, son & heir was invited to stay at his friend's for tea so there didn't seem to be a lot of point in making what was a three person meal (I'd bought the fish already, you see) for the two of us.  So hubby had a kebab and I had some chicken.

Canton Restaurant, Poole

Then, on Wednesday, I was driving back from a local shopping trip when I found myself yearning for a Chinese takeaway.  So intense was this yearning (they happen often, but I can ordinarily ignore it) that it wasn't going to be ignored.  I mentioned it to the family and everyone seemed keen - so that was what happened.  I shared some Spare Ribs with son & heir, a Canton Special Fried Rice and a Hot & Spicy Special Chow Mein with hubby and had a Duck with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts & cashews all for myself.  It was totally lush.  I've got the leftovers for lunch today, too.  ~glee~

So, as a result, we'll ignore Tuesday and Wednesday and - where the menu plan is concerned - pretend they never happened.

Here's what's on the plan for the rest of the week :

Thurs : Smoked mackerel, mediterranean potato salad and a tomato salad

Fri : Roast vegetable & bacon pasta

Sat : BBQ Pork chops with roast vegetable giant couscous

Sun : Stromboli and rice salad

Mon : Sausage & mozzarella bake with garlic bread.

The two meals that have been swerved this week were to have been Chilli Dogs with hash browns & coleslaw, plus a Beef Curry.  I'll just move them on to next week as we hadn't shopped for them yet anyway.

The two roast vegetable meals were, initially, separated by a day.  Because of having to swap the meals around a bit, they've come together which isn't the best plan - but hopefully they'll be sufficiently different in character that we don't feel over-roast vegetabled!

Oy! Put that out!

Looking at the way the rain is currently falling semi-horizontally from the sky, I think we might have been able to just reach outside the front door and catch a couple of mackerel!  As it is, we've already bought our mackerel and dinner tonight is a simple matter of putting together the Mediterranean potato salad.  It is a warm salad, involving tinned cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, black olives and new potatoes which sounded a pleasant change from the mayonnaise type of potato salad.

We've gone particularly Mediterranean this week.  Maybe it's because we know it's the closest we'll get to the Mediterranean, as there's no chance of affording a holiday there and even if we could, if I could get there (which is unlikely) I wouldn't be able to do anything as I can't walk around.  I don't qualify for a wheelchair from the NHS and can't afford to buy one, so we'll just have to eat holiday-style instead.

The roast vegetable and bacon pasta is really a simple matter of roasting some aubergine, red onion, courgette and tomato with garlic, grilling some bacon and combining the whole lot with some pasta, basil leaves and parmesan.

Son & heir has a friend coming over for the day that day, so it seemed a good dish to put before teenagers - having bacon and cheese - so long as they don't object too strongly to the aubergine and courgette!

I've been aware of giant couscous (Moghrabieh) for a while - since I bought my two Ottolenghi cook books which feature it in a couple of recipes.  I found some in our local Asda (amazingly) some while ago and have had a lttle play with it, but this is really the first  "proper" go with it.

Moghrabieh served with mixed veggies

This instalment of roast vegetables won't include the aubergine, but will include red pepper and will have a dressing of lemon, olive oil and fresh chopped mint.  I think it will be fresh and a lovely pairing with the BBQ (Mic's Chilli "El Loco" BBQ Sauce again!) pork chops.  You never know, if the weather has improved by then we might even be able to cook the chops on our new barbecue!  Not likely, but you can hope!

Hubby is making a Stromboli for Sunday's dinner - after the style of the Hairy Bakers' Stromboli as featured on their recent European Bakeation tour.  It will be along the lines of a pizza filling, with a rich tomato sauce, pepperoni, onion, ham & mozzarella.  We're currently thinking we'll have some rice salad to accompany it.

Photo c/o Vintage Victuals

I thought I'd have a go at an American style Peach Cobbler for dessert on Sunday.  It's a bit like the Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie, in that I hear so many people talking about "their Mom's Peach Cobbler" as being the best, etc. etc. that I just have to find out what's so good about it.  Hooray for t'internet, because without that I'd be lost for a recipe.  As it is, I'm spoiled for choice and will most probably do what I often do and take what seems to be the best points from a number of different recipes and make my own!

Our local Asda has some really gorgeous, intensely flavoured little peaches in at the moment - it's the beginning of the season here - that I can't help but think would be just perfect for a Peach Cobbler.

Monday's Sausage & Mozzarella Bake is a request from son & heir, who has liked this one ever since the first time I made it.  It's a Jamie Oliver recipe and is so easy to make, it is perfect for a Monday.

As for extra bakes and makes, well, I'm expecting all sorts of things to come in over the next few weeks, where various people have asked me to try various products.  I look forward to receiving these challenges, as the devising of new recipes is an opportunity for hubby and I to put our collective mighty brains together in something other than a family matter.  Yes, occasionally we have a difference of opinion and yes, occasionally I'll offend hubby mightily by stamping all over his good ideas because I like my own good idea better - but eventually they all get an airing and the best ones reach the blog.  So, it's all good.

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Pork Schnitzels - bless you!

These schnitzels (gesundheit!) were what was responsible for the whole veal thing kicking off.  You see, originally, we wanted veal instead of pork so as to make the proper Wiener Schnitzel.  However because affordable veal is as rare as rocking horse poo, we had to think laterally and our second choice was pork.

Hubby has, owing to his triumphant premiere with the Smoked Haddock Fishcakes, discovered that pannéing is not so difficult.  So now a whole world of egg & breadcrumbed foodstuffs lay at his feet, just waiting for him to indulge.

Double coated and ready to cook

We had a long and involved conversation about which pork cut to use for the schnitzels, but as this was his first go at them, we decided to forgo our local butcher's good pork and opted for some pork escalopes from the supermarket.  They did the job very well and at around £3.50, were pretty affordable too.  However, next time, hubby says he'll go for some pork steaks from the butcher and break out his meat hammer.

Having pannéd the escalopes the once, he decided to go for two layers of egg and breadcrumbs, which I think worked very well indeed.  Because the escalopes are so thin, they stand the chance of drying out in the pan when they're being cooked.  I can't help but think that the added buffer of another layer of protection from the heat helped to seal in the juices and keep them soft and tender.

Chuckling in the pan

Hubby served the schnitzels with a tasty potato salad made with Jersey Royals, a few capers, some parsley, chives and a mix of mayonnaise and greek yoghurt.   Son & heir, who isn't a great fan of potato salad, declared it to be the best potato salad he's had to date, which is quite some accolade.

We also had some buttered corn on the cob and some sliced Little Gem lettuce (for a bit of green), which actually went down very well together.

I thought this was a really tasty and satisfying weekday meal - but then I did have seconds!

PORK SCHNITZELS  (serves 3-4)


Ingredients :

4 pork escalopes around 400g total weight
breadcrumbs made from a half a French Baguette (or equivalent amount of breadcrumbs of your choice)
1 tsp paprika
half a tsp cayenne pepper
half a tsp dried basil
half a tsp dried oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs, beaten
plain flour for dusting.

Method :

1.  If using the French Baguette for breadcrumbs, cut into rough chunks and blitz in a food processor.  Season the crumbs with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.  Spread them out onto a shallow baking sheet and put into very low (90deg) oven to dry out and toast a little.

2.  Remove the breadcrumbs and allow them to cool.  Once cool, add the paprika, cayenne, basil, oregano and mix to combine on flat baking sheet, ready for the panéing process.

3.  On a chopping board, cover one escalope with cling film and then flatten with rolling pin or meat hammer to around half a centimetre thick (or thinner if you want).  Cut into approximately three centimetre wide strips and set aside.  Repeat for the other 3 escalopes.

4.  Prepare one flat bowl with seasoned flour (sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika), another with beaten eggs and the tray of crumbs.  Prepare a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.

5.  Allowing plenty of room on the work surface, pané each strip of pork by dusting with flour then with the other hand dredging the pork through the egg and drop onto the breadcrumbs, coating each slice liberally.  Repeat until all strips are done, then go back and repeat, to provide the second coating.


6.  At this stage, the schnitzels can either be set aside in the fridge until ready to cook, or you can proceed directly to the cooking process.

7.  To a non-stick frying pan, add sunflower oil to an approximate depth of half a centimetre and begin to heat the oil.  Once a breadcrumb sizzles when dropped into the oil, begin frying strips in batches of four or five (so as not to crowd the pan) for 4 minutes, turning frequently to prevent burning.

8.  Place onto a plate with kitchen paper to absorb fat & keep warm in 100 deg oven until all are cooked.

Serve.  

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