A Sunday Roast for One

This one's for Debs.

The brief was 'a roast dinner for one without using every pan in the kitchen'.

How about roast chicken with sausage and bacon rolls, crispy roast potatoes, vichy carrrots, peas, brussel sprouts and gravy?!

Equipment-wise I used;

1 small roasting tin,

a medium sized non-stick saucepan,
2 small breakfast bowls,
a sieve and
a measuring jug.

I also used cling film and silver foil, wooden and metal spoons, a spatula, a vegetable peeler and a sharp knife.

By jove, I think I've done it!

You will need:

1 chicken leg quarter rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 lemon sliced into 3 rounds
1 large potato peeled and cut into quarters
1 large carrot peeled and cut into 1 cm rounds
3/4 cup of frozen peas
A handful of brussel sprouts, stalk nub sliced off
2 rashers of streaky bacon, cut in half
1 sausage, skin removed and cut into 4 pieces
1 level dessertspoon of plain flour
1/2 a chicken stock cube (I am assuming you don't have any homemade stock sloshing around. If you do, you will need 1/2 a pint)
A pinch of sugar
A dash of worcestershire sauce
1 dessertspoon of redcurrant jelly
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A knob of butter

Method

Heat the oven to 180C.

Wrap each sausage piece in a bacon strip.

Parboil the potatoes in briskly boiling water for 10 minutes.  Drain into a measuring jug in which you have already placed your chicken stock cube.  You need about half a pint of potato water.  Throw the rest of the water away.  Rinse and dry the saucepan.

Place the lemon slices on a small roasting tin and lay the oiled and seasoned chicken on top.  Surround the chicken with the parboiled potatoes and drizzle them with a little olive oil.  Add the sausage stuffed bacon rolls.

Cook for about an hour, basting the chicken and turning the potatoes and bacon rolls half way.

Get on with the carrots by placing them in the saucepan and just covering with water.  Add a knob of butter, sugar and a pinch of salt.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until tender.  Put any remaining liquid (it will be substantially reduced) in the measuring jug with the potato water and stock cube.  Put the carrots in a microwavable bowl, allow to cool then add the peas and cover with cling film.  Rinse and dry the pan.

Now make the gravy.

Scoop a couple of tablespoons of the fat from the roasting tin into the saucepan.  Try and scrape up a few of the nice crispy pan bits as you do so.  They will add flavor to the gravy.  Baste the chicken whilst you are at it.  Turn the potatoes again if you want.

Heat the oil in the saucepan over a moderate heat  and stir in the flour. After a minute or so (when the fat begins to ooze out of the flour mixture - you will know it when you see it) add the liquid from the jug; slowly and stirring all the time to avoid getting any lumps.  Add the worcestershire sauce, redcurrant jelly and bay leaf.  Simmer; stirring from time to time and adding a splash more water if necessary.

After an hour has passed, check that the chicken is cooked by piercing the plumpest section with a knife.  You want the juices that flow out to be clear with no trace of blood.  If you are happy, transfer the chicken and bacon rolls to a bowl and cover with foil.  They will be quite happy for up to half a hour.

Turn the potatoes again and return to the oven to really crisp up. Turn the heat up to 200C to assist the crisping.

Decant the gravy into the jug and cover with cling film. Rinse and clean the pan.

Boil the sprouts for 4 minutes in salted water.  You can add a bit of the sprout water to the gravy if you like.  Microwave the peas and carrots on high for 4 minutes.

Serve up!

Soy braised shiitake mushrooms in broth with noodles

Deeply savoury mushrooms in a crystal clear broth with slippery noodles and a few crunchy vegetables. Splendid stuff.  I just had it for lunch.

You will need:

1/8 cup soy
1/8 cup mirin
1/8 cup of sake
1 dessert spoon of caster sugar
pinch salt
8-10 dried shiitake mushrooms (depending on size)
3/4 pint of boiling water
50-75g of dried rice vermicelli noodles cooked according to the packet instructions and refreshed under cold water
1 celery stick very finely sliced
2 spring onions very finely sliced

Soak the mushrooms in the water for 20 minutes then fish them out with a spoon and slice.  KEEP THE SOAKING LIQUID!

Put the mushrooms in a saucepan with the soy, mirin, sake and salt and simmer for 5 minutes until reduced.  (You could stop now and just have the soy braised mushrooms on rice for a light lunch but we are going to keep going).

Add the reserved soaking liquid to the mushrooms and bring to the boil.

Now add the noodles, celery and spring onion.  Swirl around for a few seconds and then tip into a large soup bowl and start slurping.

Little tip:  Don't buy the vermicelli noodles that come in nests.  The nests are too big for one person and if you try and divide them up noodle fragments will fly everywhere making your kitchen floor look like the bottom of a gerbil's cage (if it doesn't already).  Stick with the straight noodles that come neatly tied in the middle like a sheaf of wheat.

Desperation Chicken

  

(Pea rice au gratin with crispy fried chicken)

A little challenge my brother threw down yesterday evening;

‘Mel is away.  What shall I cook?’

‘Well, what do you have in the fridge?’

‘Three eggs, cheddar with mould on it and some squeezy lemon in a bottle.  I don’t want an omelette’.

‘Okaaaay.....’

After a number of leading questions it was established that the sibling did not care to partake of another takeaway and had the following additional provisions:

2 frozen chicken breasts

Frozen peas (but of course) 

Frozen white sliced bread

A tin of tomatoes

Pasta (assorted and lots)

Uncle Ben’s rice

Half a bulb of garlic (hurrah!)

Chilli powder

A can of beer

Balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and some olive oil

Plain flour (slightly out of date)

That was it.  Nothing else. 

No fresh herbs at all.  No onion.  Not a sausage. Literally.

And so ‘Desperation Chicken’ was born.

You will need

1 chicken breast carefully defrosted in the microwave, patted dry with kitchen towel and cut in half horizontally

A pinch of chilli powder

2 slices of frozen white bread grated into breadcrumbs using your cheese grater and put into a breakfast bowl

1 beaten egg in a breakfast bowl

A tablespoon of flour - preferably in date but let’s not be precious

2-3 handfuls of frozen peas (about 1 and 1/2 cups)

1 garlic clove crushed 

A heaped tablespoon of finely grated cheddar (mould scraped off)

A squeeze of lemon juice

3 level tablespoons of Uncle Ben’s rice

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Prepare the chicken by bashing each half with a rolling pin or other suitable object until you have the thinness of a i-phone.  This is easier if you put the halves between cling-film before bashing. Coat the chicken lightly with flour.  Notice how lovely a flour coated chicken breast feels. 

Mix the chilli powder into the breadcrumbs and season with salt and pepper. Dip the breasts in the beaten egg then in the breadcrumbs. If you want a really crunchy coating repeat the process but it is not essential.  Put the fridge whilst you get on with the pea puree. 

Cook the peas for 3 minutes in a covered bowl in the microwave.

Meanwhile fry the garlic in a dessertspoon of olive oil for 30 seconds or so until fragrant but not brown.  Remove from the heat and add to the peas with a squirt of lemon.  Mash with a potato masher until you have a rough puree.  Add the cheese, lots of black pepper a pinch of salt and stir. Put to one side.

Put the rice on to boil in plenty of salted water.  It will take about 10 minutes.  

Whilst the rice is cooking heat up enough oil to just cover the bottom of a non-stick frying pan and fry the chicken for about 4 minutes either side until golden and crispy.

Meanwhile drain the rice and mix immediately well with the pea puree and grated cheddar.

Serve the chicken atop the rice.  Drink the beer.