The weekend just gone was one of much activity in the kitchen. The beautiful wife decided that, if we were to have a roast then there would be stuffing - she sold it as a trial run for Christmas. Incidentally: buy your chestnuts now as foraging around for them on Christmas eve is very undignified (I speak from experience). A roast was also the opportunity to use up a lot of the veggies from my Abel and Cole box.
So we had a beautiful Roast chicken with...Stuffing (Chestnuts, breadcrumbs, sausage meat from Newitt's Oxford sausage, onions and sage from the garden), roast potatoes, roast parsnip, roast onion, roast garlic, boiled cabbage, boiled carrots, Brussels sprouts and gravy.
Now my favourite thing about roast chicken is all the left over bits! I made a stock from the bones and a pie (with leeks and mushrooms) from the leftover flesh.
The stock was strained and then just about every veg I had left was thrown in (Squash, parsnip, spud, onion, leek, a little bit of celeriac and three rather sorry looking spring onions. This was boiled and blitzed and then some finely shredded cabbage added. This became lunch today with just a sprinkling of Parmesan and breadcrumbs over the top.
I now have enough space for this evening's box. I just need to come up with an idea for all the apples I have!
Chicken Stock
A bowl of chicken stock in the fridge or the freezer makes me think of exciting beginnings and starts. It provides the basis for so much good cooking. Many of the great soups and sauces begin as a bowl of slightly gelatinous opaque liquid quivering in the fridge. Every Celebrity Chef’s cookbook will have a complex recipe which involves skimming, straining and clarifying one hundred and thirty vegetables and bits of chicken. This is fine if you want to cook in a restaurant with three Michelin Stars but we’re just making ourselves some supper!
Ingredients 1 Selection of Chicken Bones (from a single roast bird will be enough)
1 Carrot
1 Onion
5 Black pepper corns
Enough water to cover the bones and vegetables
Put all the ingredients in a large pan and bring to the boil. Boil vigorously for 40 minutes. Allow the stock to cool, perhaps overnight. Bring the stock to the boil once more and boil hard for 10 minutes. Let the stock cool and refrigerate or freeze.
