Quick Dinner - Roast Chicken

Last Friday I was in hospital for an operation to my right ear.  I have been suffering from hearing loss in that ear since my twenties and it is getting progressively worse.  It's now considered severe hearing loss.  Tinnitus,  humming and buzzing noises in my ear, are also what I have to put up with.  It can be a common problem in women after childbirth.

When I was first diagnosed with this problem a few years ago, I was not a mother.  It was unusual for a healthy person of my age to have such problems, especially as it had been giving me dizzy spells and vertigo on occasion.  In fact, it was because it had made me feel so unwell that it prompted me to go see my doctor.  After several hearing tests and even a scan (to rule out any tumours causing my hearing problem), I was diagnosed with Otosclerosis.  Hardening of the Stapes bone in the ear.  The Stapes bone is the smallest and thinnest bone in your body and it's job is to vibrate sounds up into the Cochlear (the snail shaped shell) in order for the brain to hear.  There is no explanation why I have this condition only that it is hereditary, although, I'm not aware who in my family has hearing problems.

It's not something that will get better, only worse unfortunately.  What may help is surgery to remove the Stapes bone and replace it with a plastic prosthesis.

I am recovering from surgery now and as a result need quick and easy dinner solutions.  Seeing Elin's recent post on Simple English Buttered Roast inspired me to make it for our dinner.  I had half a free-range chicken in the fridge needing to be cooked so it was a perfect opportunity.  I teamed the chicken up with roast potato & sweet potato wedges and cauliflower cheese.  Something simple for me to knock up in the kitchen and pop in the oven to feed Mr Leaf and myself.  I even mashed some of the cauliflower and cheese for Baby Leaf's dinner!  Thank you Elin for an inspiring and tasty dish!  Don't forget to visit her blog to see how the chicken was roasted!

I haven't been baking cakes or bread whilst recuperating but today is our niece's 2nd birthday and I've promised my SIL to bake a cake for the birthday girl.  It will be a fruit and cream decorated chiffon so nothing too strenuous.  Will post the creation when it's made.

Paella

The great thing about going on holiday is sampling the local fare.  No, haven't been on hols recently, neither likely to in near future  :0(  We like to recreate our favourite dishes at home - I guess it's to relive the fun had in sunnier climes when there was nothing more important than, "What shall I wear today?" or "Where shall we eat?"

Paella packed with squid, scallops, prawns and chorizo

Our first holiday together was almost six years ago when hubbs took me away to Spain for a week.  Neither of us had visited Spain so it was a first on many counts.  A popular dish is Paella.  It has several variants; true Valencian Paella (where dish originates) includes rabbit, chicken, beans, seafood or snails.  Seafood is just a mix of prawns, mussels, clams, langoustine and crab.  There is even one made with squid ink!  At home, I make a mixed paella which contains, chorizo (cured, smoked pork sausage which contains spices and paprika), chicken and seafood.

This is how I make mine at home - although I may change the seafood each time I make it the basis is the same.

Scallops halved and squid cut into rings.

Paella


1 onion, chopped
3 chicken wings, jointed then each joint cut in half, tips discarded
150 g chorizo, 1cm cubes, or 0.5cm slices cut in half
paella rice (I measure in a jug up to the 8fl oz mark)

Cooked Tiger Prawns that I used as garnish instead of mussels

1 pepper, red for colour but not essential, cut in small strips
handful of peas
few saffron threads
1 fish stock cube
raw seafood: scallops, prawns, squid, mussels - any mix of your choice,

Chorizo is richly flavoured with paprika which gives it wonderful colour and flavour

The bright sunny colour from just a few strands of saffron

Soak the saffron threads in a little hot water to infuse.  Leave aside for later.

Keep close eye on the chorizo - don't let it frazzle like I did!

Put the chicken pieces and chorizo in a deep frying pan (I use a non-stick pan so I don't even worry about heating it up first and make sure pan is large enough as everything is cooked in it).  I don't add oil as there will be oil from the chicken wings and the chorizo is fatty too.  Fry lightly so the chicken begins to go golden and the chorizo browns lightly.  Remove the chorizo and keep aside for later.  I take it out now because I don't like it to get too hard and crispy.


Add the chopped onion and continue to fry gently until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.  Tip in the rice and stir to coat all the rice grains in the fragrant chorizo-infused oil.  Keep stirring and frying over a low heat for 1-2 minutes

Dissolve the fish stock cube in 1 pint of water and add to the pan.  Pour in the saffron threads and water.  Turn the flame up to bring the liquid to boil, then turn down to simmer. 
Return the chorizo to the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes then scatter the pepper strips and peas over the top.  Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes or so until the water begins to fall below the level of the rice. 
If the rice grains are not plump enough,  add a little more water to the pan - they won't be fully cooked at this point as it will continue to absorb liquid and will steam through later.

Add the seafood to the pan.  I nestle the halved scallops into the rice and mussels if I'm using them.  The squid and prawns cook easily so these are just sprinkled on top.

Cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat.  It doesn't matter if you get a little golden brown toasty rice on the bottom as it's made like that (bit like clay-pot rice you get in Hong Kong Dai-Pai Dong.).  The steaming should make the rice lift off the bottom of the pan.

If you don't have a large enough lid, cover with square of foil and twist corners - it makes the foil tighten and form to shape of pan

Turn off fire and leave covered to steam through for 5-10 minutes and serve.  It's usually served with lemon wedges but we don't find that necessary.

Taa-Daa!  Looks good with mussels too!

This is a polite sized serving - I ate more than this! :0)

This amount makes enough for three hungry people sized portions (that's me, hubby and his lunchbox) or four polite appetites.

Curry - Chicken & Vegetable with Clove Scented Mushroom Rice

If you look carefully at the top left of the picture, you can just make out the drifts of steam coming from the curry

Having a lazy day today.  Only doing the minimum amount possible.  That means cooking meals rather than food for fun.  Also means too lazy to do cleaning or any other housework.  Wanted to cook a roast today after seeing a poster for pork shoulder joint on special offer - just my luck they didn't have any!  Meant to go to shops to buy something but as I was being lazy, I had to raid the freezer.

Last week, I made a vegetable curry from scratch - no jars or pastes.  It kind of came out of my head after reading a few recipes here and there.  It was rather good!  I didn't make note of what I put in it though!  It was an accompaniment for a chicken biryani which I made from paste in a jar.  I deeply regretted not writing the ingredients down!  Sometimes cooking is a bit like that, you get an idea, see what's in the cupboards and throw whatever you have in.

Seeing as there is nothing planned for dinner, I thought I'd try make a curry from scratch again.  Not following any recipe or guidance I've muddled my way through to make something we can eat.  It wasn't too bad either!  Made sure I took notes this time!  I also made some mushroom rice to go with the curry - it was quite nice as it had the scent of cloves.

Chicken and Vegetable Curry

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
6 green cardamon pods
1 medium onion, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
50 g peeled ginger, grated (2 tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves, grated (1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 large chicken thighs, skinned, de-boned, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 head of cauliflower
handful of green beans
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper
1/2 pint water (or can use stock - veg/chicken)

The onions, shallots and potatoes are from the garden

In a dry pan over a low heat, roast the cumin, coriander seeds for 3-5 minutes until they begin to darken and the aroma from the spices are released.  Tip into a mortar.  Split the cardamon pods and tip the seeds into the mortar.  Grind with the pestle until the seeds have turned to powder.
Sweat the onion and shallot in a large saucepan over a gentle heat for 10 minutes.  The onions and shallots will have begun to turn brown.
Add the ground spices, turmeric, cayenne, grated ginger and grated garlic and continue to fry gently for 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.
Turn the heat to medium and add the chicken to the pan and fry until it begins to colour.  Add the water and potatoes and allow to boil before turning heat down to simmer.  Place lid on pan and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the cauliflower florets, bring to boil, cover, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the beans and tomatoes and simmer for a further 5 minutes.  Thicken sauce with cornflour paste if necessary.  Check for seasoning.  Serve with your favourite rice or breads.
I would have liked to sprinkle fresh chopped coriander on the curry but didn't have any.  I'm sure the flavour would have been lifted by the fresh aromatic herbs.

I made some rice to go with this dish, I had wanted to make a pilau style rice but didn't want to make it in a pan.  I was looking to make it in the rice cooker so I didn't have to watch the heat.  I made a clove-scented rice and added mushrooms and onion for flavour.


Clove Scented Mushroom Rice

300 g basmati rice (2 rice cooker cups)
480 g water (up to 2 marker on my rice cooker) * or however much water you feel is enough to cook the rice
6 whole green cardamon pods
2 bay leaves
12 cloves
1 medium onion, chopped
6 medium sized mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper

Wash the rice in cold water until the water is relatively clear.  Place in the bowl of the rice cooker and add enough water to cook the rice. 
Add in the spices to the water and cook the rice.
Fry the onion and mushroom in a little oil until soft.  Season mushroom and onion mixture and place on top of the rice when all the water in the rice has been absorbed.  Replace lid and leave to steam for 10 minutes.  Fluff the rice with chopsticks and incorporate the onion and mushroom at the same time.

1 Box Tofu Two Ways ~ Tofu With Mushrooms & Chicken

Inspired by Elin's post on her mushroom dish, I made sure I bought some fresh oyster mushrooms when I paid my weekly visit to my mum.  In my old hometown, there is a ethnic food store that sells oyster mushrooms as well as both green and white pak choi as well as Filipino branded goods and Polish groceries.  I was glad they had the mushrooms in as I was seriously craving a mushroomy dish seeing as its the season for all things 'shroomy right now! 

I still had half a box of fresh tofu in water to be used up and I really fancied some mushroom goodness.  I teamed up the fresh oyster mushroom with another exotic mushroom - fresh shiitake!  Fresh shiitake is expensive - 1 box cost me £1.69 and I saw a box of oyster mushroom reduced to £0.89 I was tempted by the discount but I already had those and I really wanted the deep savoury yumminess from shiitake.

I used chicken thigh for my dish as its a juicier cut than using breast meat but sometimes I opt for the meaty chew of chicken breast in curries.  I sliced the meat and marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and cornflour.  After browning the meat I added the shiitake mushrooms and a splash or two of water to ensure the meat cooked through.  A splash of sherry, shake of fish sauce, drizzle of soy and a blob of oyster sauce were the flavourings for this dish.  I added the tofu slices (no pre-frying this time) to heat up and the oyster mushrooms last minute.  If added too early they overcook and turn to a slimy slippery goo.  I thickened with cornflour paste and this dish was saucier than the previous tofu dish two nights ago.  Nice on a bed of plain rice to soak up the juices.  My fresh mushroom fix satiated!

New Kitchen Toy - Halogen Oven

This alien looking unit is our new kitchen gadget - a halogen oven

Hubbs came home yesterday bearing gifts - well new kitchen toys!  We've talked about getting a Halogen oven - which is basically an extremely large glass bowl with a powerful halogen heat source in the lid unit.  I'm not sure why this came about but our toaster has recently gone kaput after 4-5 years.  One of the heating elements on the toaster wall has broken so it no longer works.  Doesn't bother me as the grill toasts my morning bread quickly.  Hubbs likes to use the toaster bag and pops a sausage roll or samosa in the toaster to warm up.  We also have  a George Foreman grill - well it was hubbs way of cooking dinner before he met me.  George is a bit unreliable and has a dodgy power lead which sometimes turns him off.  His non-stick plates are also wearing out in places too.  Hence, we've talked about a halogen oven.  They are supposed to be quite energy efficient and also very quick to cook food.  I think it's similar to a fan oven in the sense that hot air is blown around the glass bowl cooking the food.  That is why things are placed on the racks provided to ensure heat and air circulation.

So, we gave the strange spaceship contraption it's first trial tonight.  We decided to buy a chicken to roast for dinner.  According to the instruction manual, a 1.6kg chicken will take 40 minutes to cook at 200 deg C. 

Following the instructions I pre-heated the oven and placed my chicken on the lower rack and pit some potatoes around the meat.  Listening to advice on websites from other halogen oven users I added a cup of water to the glass bowl.  That way any fats and cooking juices don't burn and stick to the bowl making washing a nightmare.

It emits a very bright light when it's cooking

Our chicken was 1.3kg so I started the timer for 30 minutes.  The strange thing about the halogen oven is that it will switch itself off for a second every now and again when it reaches optimum temperature before turning itself back on again.  I was beginning to think the chicken would never cook! 

When 30 minutes was up the chicken was a pale golden brown.  It doesn't say to flip the chicken over but I did anyway to see if the underside was cooked.  It looked rather anaemic and raw to say the least.  I drained the pink juices from the cavity, placed the chicken breast side down and cooked for a further 10 minutes. 

It was a beautiful golden brown and I gave it several pokes with a skewer before deciding it was definitely cooked.  Looked good and smelt it too!

The cooked chicken - doesn't look too bad

The roast potatoes however, were looking pretty insipid.  I changed to the taller rack (I figured the reason why the potatoes and chicken probably didn't cook that well was it was too near the bottom of the glass bowl.  With the water on the bottom it probably prevent much air and heat to circulate around the food.) and put the potatoes back in for a further 10 minutes.  They turned out a lovely brown colour.

These looked super crunchy!

The result?  The chicken was just cooked and so deliciously moist!  The bones on the carcass look a bit pink but as I'm not chewing those I don't mind!  The breast meat was so tender and juicy!  Delicious!  I struggle to recall when I last had chicken that tasty!  I will definitely cook it this way again but on the higher rack and it will be interesting to see if the chicken needs flipping over to cook the back.  The potatoes looked good but weren't crispy crunchy as a proper roast potato.  They were soft and fluffy - "Like baked potatoes." commented hubbs.  I think they had too much of a steaming having spent 30 minutes millimetres away from the water.  Maybe I could cook them on a tray with a drizzle of oil next time?

Roast chicken dinner with tenderstem broccoli and roast potatoes