A new family favourite

I'm a big fan of Yotam Ottolenghi. Any chef who is a self-confessed meat lover and writes a book totally devoted to vegetarian recipes demands respect, when you consider that the likes of Gordon Ramsey has said that veggies should be shot. And a lot of top chefs seem reluctant to embrace a meat free lifestyle, even if it is only for the odd day or so.

I need to make a confession here, for the best part of 20 years I was a strict vegetarian. However numerous trips to France and getting sick of either omlette or salad for dinner meant that I had to think seriously about whether it was a viable full-time option. There was no moral reason behind it, I would regularly cook meat and fish for friends and family but not eat it myself.

Well I started dipping my toe into the flesh eating water, so to speak, with a delicious dish of perch baked in a salt crust, in a restaurant in Angouleme. And I was hooked. I then went on to seafood and then chicken, but red meat is something that I still do not eat or enjoy the taste of. That said I am still predominantly vegetarian, aided and abetted by my husband who made a conscious decision before I met him to decrease his meat consumption.

Anyway, back to Yotam. A couple of years ago I was given a copy of his book "Jerusalem" by my step-daughter as a Christmas present. So I started working my way through it. One recipe that caught the attention of my eye, and stomach, is roasted chicken with clementines and arak. It might sound strange, but the combination of aniseed and citrus works perfectly and makes for a wonderful one tray dinner. I do not add anything but you might want to serve with a salad or some couscous to mop up the juices. And the leftovers taste even better the next day.

If you don't have arak, don't worry, I don't either. What I have used is Ouzo which sits in our drinks cabinet, a gift from one on my husband's PhD students. You can also use pastis too, just make sure that the booze is aniseed flavoured.

I have also amended the recipe slightly, Yotam's recipe calls for a whole chicken, but as finding an organic whole one can prove problematical, I have started using either leg or thighs and drumsticks. If you can marinate overnight then that is preferable, if not then a couple of hours will be fine.

The recipe, courtesy of Mr Ottolenghi, and broadly reproduced from his book is below:

100ml of arak, ouzo, pastis etc
4 tbsp of olive oil
3 tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice
3 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tbsp of grain mustard
3 tbsp of soft brown sugar
500 grams of fennel
1 organic chicken divided into eight pieces, or equivalent quantity of chicken legs or thighs and drumsticks. The total weight should be 1.3 kilos.
4 clementines, unpeeled and sliced into 0.5cm slices
1 tbsp of thyme leaves
2 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds, lightly crushed
salt and black pepper
chopped flat leaf parley to garnish

Start by combining the first six ingredients in a large bowl together with 2 teaspoons of salt and one and a half teaspoons of black pepper and whisk to mix.

Trim the fennel and slice in half lengthways, then cut each half into four, keeping the root on. Add to the marinade.

Add the chicken pieces, clementines, thyme, fennel seeds and mix well. Cover and leave to marinade in the fridge overnight if possible, but if you are short of time then a couple of hours will do.

When you are ready to cook, preheat an oven to 200c/200c fan or gas mark 7. Transfer the mixture to a roasting tray large enough to accommodate everything in a single layer. Make sure that the chicken is skin side up. Place in the oven and cook for between 35 and 45 minutes, until the chicken is coloured and cooked through.

Remove the chicken, fennel and clementines from the tray and place on a plate. Cover with foil and keep warm. Place the juices in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the mixture is reduced, you should be left with about 80ml. Pour the sauce over the chicken, garnish with parsley and serve.

Lentil Chilli

I have been playing around with a few different vegetarian chilli recipes for a while now.

Through trial and error, I seem to have found a combination that my husband loves. I thought that I would share it with you.Please feel free to feedback if you like.

So my chilli tonight is:

1 white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of tomato puree
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of coriander
1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon of Worcester sauce
100ml of red wine
200gran pack of beluga lentils

Start by frying the onions in one tablespoon of olive oil until soft and golden.

When soft, add the garlic, coriander, cumin, chilli flakes, and tomato puree. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, red wine and Worcester sauce and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the lentils, mix well and simmer for another 10 minutes.

I served mine with brown rice because my husband likes it, but you could use white rice, couscous or quinoa.

Strawberry and Rosewater ice cream

Last Christmas my lovely husband gave me the most wonderful present. A new KitchenAid to replace the basic model that I had. With a 6.9 litre bowl, it truly has transformed my cooking, enabling me to produce larger quantities of bread, cakes and all manner of savoury things.

With the KitchenAid came an offer of a free ice-cream attachment. Now I had been looking at this for some time and had always decided that it would be one of those things that would sit in the cupboard gathering dust because, to be honest, I had always made ice-cream using the more labour intensive method of freezing, re-whisking and the associated repeating of the process to avoid a granular finished product.

Well all I can say is that it has transformed my life. Ice-cream has changed from becoming something I would make under sufferance when my husband and family requested, to something that I now whip up without even thinking. The only snag, is that the bowl is too large to live in my freezer on a permanent basis, so I do need to put it in the night before, but apart from that the fact that I can whip up a sweet treat within 30 minutes for soft scoop consistency (a little longer in the freezer for a more firmer set) I can also avoid all the additives that the commercial versions have.

Well as part of my experimentation with new flavours and textures, last weekend I decided to make a strawberry ice-cream, with the additional of rosewater to add a Middle Eastern influence for my brother-in-law who was visiting from Iran. I left some of the strawberries aside to add in at the end, but if you prefer you can blitz the entire lot. I just like the contract of the ice-cream with tiny pieces of what becomes strawberry sorbet. Well the taste testing is complete with wider family and friends involved, so I feel it is only fair to share the results. The quantities below make enough to fill a one litre container.

I might look like I have overdone it with the rosewater, but once frozen the intensity diminishes and you are left with a subtle aftertaste.

I quantity of basic ice-cream custard (see previous post for pannetone ice-cream)
400 gram pack of strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped with 8-10 set aside
4 teaspoons of rosewater

Make the custard in advance, cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool thoroughly.

Puree the strawberries, setting the aside the ones to mix into the ice-cream later. Sieve to get rid of any seeds.

Add the puree to the custard mix, stirring to ensure that both mixtures are combined. Add the rosewater. Place into the ice-cream maker and churn until just reaching the soft scoop stage, then transfer to a container and store until in the freezer until needed. If using the chopped strawberries, chop into small pieces and fold in just before placing in the container. Allow to "ripen" in fridge for 25 minutes before serving.