Stuffed Chicken Thighs

Stuffing meat goes back into ancient history. It has developed into one of those food issues which causes arguments whenever it is brought up! Never is this more evident than at Christmas. We argue about whether the bird should be stuffed (in my eyes, no) whether the stuffing should contain meat (in my eyes, yes) whether it should be served in balls or slices (slices for me) and whether it is better hot or cold (I love stuffing as a cold cut).
The recipe below is for a stuffed chicken leg. This is a bit of a misnomer as the whole leg is not stuffed, just the thigh, whilst it is roasted as a whole leg. I have, on a couple of occasions, stuffed a whole chicken leg and let me assure you that life is way to short to take the bone out of a chicken drumstick!
I decided to use Black Pudding because I love it. Many people find eating a blood sausage problematic but it is efficient and a good use of a product that may well otherwise have been wasted. However, if you are trying to get blood to make your own then you would have better luck buying dynamite. It is unlikely that an abattoir will supply you with any as fresh blood has a very high infection risk. However, you can get powdered blood which is used in most commercial Black Pudding.
The removal of the bone from a chicken thigh (whether attached to the drumstick or not) is a reasonably easy thing to do, just be aware that the first time you do it it will take a while though you will get much quicker at it over time. It is a very worthwhile skill to learn as chicken thigh has a lot more flavour than breast and is much cheaper.
I served this with a puree of carrot and potato, spinach and the roasting juices reduced with a little stock.

Chicken Legs stuffed with Black Pudding

2 Chicken legs (sometimes called "oyster" cut)
10gms Black Pudding crumbled or finely chopped
1 egg beaten
1 small handful breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper

Mix the beaten egg with the black pudding and bread to form a firm paste. pick off a little piece of this and fry it  and taste it to check for seasoning (this will depend entirely on the black pudding). Season if needed.

The stuffing, not too sloppy!

Bone out the chicken thighs, separating them at the joint to leave the drumstick attached but still with its bone in.

Thigh bone removed

Roll a small finger of the stuffing and place in the gap left by the thigh bone.

Stuffed, ready for closing.

Wrap the flesh around the stuffing and secure with three or four cocktail sticks. (Ideally these should have been soaked for an hour or two before starting, but I nearly always forget).

Cocktail sticks used for sealing the roast

Roast the legs in a oven at about 180 degrees for 20 or more minutes until cooked through. The skin should be beautifully crisp and golden.
Pop the legs aside to rest for a short while whilst reducing some good chicken stock with the meat juices in the roasting tin. Serve with some kind of mash (celeriac might be nice) and some squeaky greens (spinach, kale, cabbage, chard, etc). Remove the cocktail sticks, carve the thigh and serve.

Served, with a creepy hand shadow on the plate!

This serves two people with a seriously hearty meal.

Stuffing time

If you haven't bought your chestnuts yet you might as well give up and focus on what you are going to cook for Easter instead.
Today is the day for making stuffing. There are few things more important than getting the stuffing right on the big day. From my perspective, there is little point in actually stuffing the bird of your choice, this does add great flavour but it can really mess up your timings as it will drastically alter the cooking time for the bird. Many people now opt for the stuffing ball approach, this is a trick used by caterers to make presenting a Christmas roast easy for large numbers. I have nothing against stuffing balls but I think we can do a bit better than that don't you?
There is a massive purchasing of sausage meat at this time of year in order to make stuffing. Don't buy any old sausage meat. If there is a particular sausage, made by a particular company or butcher that you like, then buy half a dozen of them and take them out of their skins. This way you will get exactly the flavour you want and no nasty surprises. Just for the record, I used Newitt's Oxfordshire sausage in mine.
So to making the stuffing: I made some breadcrumbs from a nutty, seedy loaf that was almost past its best. To this I added the sausage meat, a packet of chestnuts that I had finely chopped, some sage (from the garden) some egg whites (left over from making Chocolate Brownies for my Tutor group), salt, pepper (lots) and a small, very finely, chopped onion. This was all mixed with the hands to make a perfect sticky stuffing. I placed this in an old pie dish then finally, and this is quite important, I ran over the top with a fork to create little grooves in the surface. This then went in the freezer to be brought out on Christmas Eve to defrost. It will take about an hour to cook in the bottom of the oven (covered for about 40 minutes then open and studded with little bits of butter, nicely browned by the time it's till ready to serve.
The major joy of making stuffing in this way is that it means that it can be carved like a meatloaf on the day and, more importantly, on Boxing day as an extra cold cut.

Ready for the freezer

Christmas 7 - Do you want the good news or....

Made any plans for Sunday? If so cancel them. (You need to be imagining that I'm using my most stern "Teacher Voice" here)
On Sunday you are going to do a Christmas trial run!
You are going to roast a chicken. "Why" you ask "why oh why do I need to make a roast dinner this close to the actual day?"
Well here's why:

1. You haven't yet made the stuffing I told you to make a week ago.
2. You haven't yet made any braised red cabbage for your freezer - I told you to do this months ago.
3. You really need to make a good chicken stock and freeze it for your gravy on the big day.
4. You might want to try out one or two of the vegetables you fancy for the big day.
5. Sauce! You need to make sure you have enough pots, pans and roasting trays for the big day.

You do not need to do all the trimmings for this Sunday's roast - If you have a great method for carrots, then it does not need re-hashing this weekend. But if you thinking of trying something new with your parsnips then this is the time to give it a go. I think we'll save the pigs in blankets for the 25th too.

Countdown to Christmas 1

So here we go then - let the madness and the nonsense begin!

Today you need to buy chestnuts - no I don't mean this weekend I mean today, on your way home and make sure you buy two packs. If you leave it too late they will be sold out and all it needs is a Nigella or a Rick to suggest a stuffing full of chestnuts and there will be none left in Europe. (Remember Delia and "The Great Christmas Cranberry crisis").

Your first pack is for your stuffing. This can be made any time this week, then frozen. All you have to do is then move it from the freezer to the fridge on Christmas Eve then into the oven for the last 40 minutes of cooking the roast.

Stuffing

Everyone has a recipe for "The best ever stuffing" but for goodness sake people - KEEP IT SIMPLE! All the volumes are general here as there is so much personal preference involved in this.

Your favourite Butchers sausages (taken out of their skins)
One pack of Chestnuts
A handful of breadcrumbs (three slices of bread in a low oven for 40 minutes then blitzed)
A large egg
Herbs (especially sage)
One large onion
Salt and Pepper

Finely chop the onion and very gently fry in a little oil. When the onion is just about to take some colour take it off the heat and pop it in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly (hands really are your best tool for this). Smooth the mix into a shallow oven proof dish cover and freeze.
Allow to thoroughly defrost before cooking in the oven at a medium heat for 40 minutes.
There is so much scope for putting your own touches in this dish - dried fruit, garlic, chili, and any spices you fancy.

"So" I hear you ask " why use sausages and not just buy sausage meat? Well if you have found a sausage you like (In my case Newitt's Oxfordshire) then why take the risk of some random sausage meat going into your stuffing? You need to be aware that, for a lot of people, Christmas Lunch is all about the stuffing!

This brings us to the other pack of chestnuts. These are for your Brussels Sprouts.
Early on "the day" cook your sprouts in boiling water till they still have a bit of resistance to biting. (Incidentally don't ever, EVER, EVER cut silly little crosses in the base of each sprout - it will simply turn your sprouts into watery fart bombs). When the sprouts are cooked, refresh them under cold water until quite chilled. 5 minutes before serving pop a couple of rashers of chopped streaky bacon into a frying pan and allow to cook. When the bacon is almost to your liking add a big lump of butter (50gms) your sprouts and your chestnuts. Warm them all through and serve as normal.

Packs of Chestnuts are available vacuum packed in every large supermarket or Deli. Some Supermarkets are now selling them from the freezer counter too.
Stop laughing I'm really serious about doing this today - Don't come crying to me if you're foraging around on Christmas eve with no ingredients.

Tales from the veg box

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.