MID-WEEK ROAST LEMON CHICKEN WITH FENNEL
22 February 2008
I reckon we get caught in a 'sunday' roast mentality - saving the sounds and sensations for the seventh day. But roasting
up in the middle of a dreary week can really bring cheer to the kitchen and makes wonderful leftovers. We can show off our
lunchtime homemade sandwiches and soup. For this you need a good chicken. The best. Always. From someone you trust. I have
discovered free range Normandy chickens in my butcher. Whatever; you should hunt.
And that makes you greedy, which is when it's good to eat.
You need to start with large Fennel bulb which you slice roughly and place in the roasting dish. I use the terracotta ones,
they look good when they come out of the oven. The bird roosting on top. Then grate the rind of a lemon over the skin and rub it in, making it wince. Carefully
separate the skin from the flesh, sliding thin lemon slices over the breast. Same with the legs.
Cut the garlic cloves in half. Stab the chicken with a small knife and insert the garlic (skin on or off) and season the whole with salt,
pepper and rather lavishly shaken ground cumin.
Pop in the oven at 200-250C for about 20 mins until the lemony skin is bronzed. Pour a generous glass of wine to simmer the fennel
and turn the heat down a bit. Not 'cooking' wine. Just what you're drinking. A decent bird deserves at least that.
Cook for another hour or so until the juices run clear.
Take out and sit for a while. Make sure everyone gets lots of the skin and lemon slices which should be deliciously crispy -
and juices with the fennel. Serve with basmati rice.
TENDER WORDS
Tender (2009) tells the story of Nigel Slater's love affair with his garden in
Islington and the many seedlings he has raised in his box-hedged vegetable patches. It’s a magnificent volume, like a medieval knightly
treatise with pictures of his Eden, its produce and many of the recipes he has created from them.
23 May, 2010
FOOD FROM THE HEART
Cooking is a basic human instinct. We’ve been eating, chopping, shaping, flavouring, enticing ingredients into something delicious
since time began. But as the way many of us live has changed, the basic skills we require to cook, are no longer valued and it’s often easier to
let others take control of what we eat.
21 April, 2010
IN A RIGHT FISH STEW
This week we had sustainable fish stew. It’s a quick and easy way to feed a gang of hungries on a Friday night and
doesn’t need much else but some good bread and wine. Like all stews, you need balance, rich liquid and a range of potent flavours steaming
from your pot.
15 March, 2010