Persevere and it will happen. Cod baked in the Oven with Potatoes

Sounds like the advice I give to the kids that I teach, or to Finn when he's complaining that he still hasn't scored this season (unglamorous job being a left back) or Lola, trying to make her way through several hours of homework for Year 6 exams instead of actually having a childhood. I don't know if perseverance does actually pay off. God knows I've persevered playing the lottery for decades and I'm still here, scratching about on this cold rock somewhere off mainland Europe instead of living the jet set lifestyle that I know I am born to live. Maybe next week that loft apartment in New York, that lake front property in Annecy, and/or that pearlescent Greek villa, hanging precariously on a hillside where the oregano grows wild and the blue sea and golden sun provide the backdrop...

Talking of Greece, and perseverance, regular readers of this blog will know that I have all but given up trying to feed fish to the fam. Fish has become a solitary eating activity, which is ok I suppose, but it would be better for us all round if we ate more fish than we do now. The defrosting of the freezer revealed some long forgotten cod, bought because it was dirt cheap, hurled in the freezer and then forgotten about. I wasn't going to throw it out. I'd make something with it and if need's be, any that was leftover I would nuke in the microwave the next day, to the despair of my fellow teaching colleagues if the smell of the last fish that was nuked in the staff room microwave (not by me) was anything to go by. But, no. It was eaten. I mean, there wasn't rapturous applause at the end of the meal, but it was, more or less, eaten. Phill even said he liked it. It may not seem like a victory, but it feels like one.

The recipe was taken from and gently adapted from 'Cretan Cooking' by Maria and Nikos Psilakis, which I bought when I was, funnily enough, on holiday in Crete, about 7 or 8 years ago now. The recipe is pretty faff free, except for the prep of the potatoes, but I found the whole slicing thing very therapeutic, so there you go. The original recipe calls for salt cod, and for that you would have to add in soaking time. Because I used 'ordinary' cod, there wasn't that issue.

Cod in the Oven with Potatoes adapted from 'Cretan Cooking' by Maria and Nikos Psilakis

Serves Mum, Dad, Lola and Finn

Ingredients:

2lb cod or any firm white fish, cut to fit the size of the pan you are using (though try to keep the pieces of fish a reasonably consistent size to ensure even cooking).

1lb waxy potatoes

2 finely chopped onions

2/3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp of oregano

1 tsp thyme

zest of a lemon

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

Boil the potatoes in salted water (you can peel them before hand if you like but I didn't bother) until they are almost cooked. Leave until they are cool enough to handle, and then slice into rounds about half a cm thick.

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of a suitable baking dish/pan that will hold everything reasonably snugly, then place a layer of potatoes on the bottom. Season well, and sprinkle on some of the chopped onion, the chopped garlic, a bit of lemon zest and a little of the oregano and garlic. Repeat the process a second time.

Place the cod onto the potato layers, and season well.

Pour the tinned tomatoes over the cod.

Then, as much as is possible, place a layer of potatoes over the fish, and season as before. Repeat the process. Season, and brush over a little olive oil. It might be that you have potatoes left over - I didn't, but if I had, I'd have kept them and when I was feeling peckish, lashed them in with some beaten egg, seasoning and loads of chopped spring onions and created a sumptuous omelette cum frittata affair. Anyway, not for the first time, I digress...

Place into the centre of the oven for about 25/30 mins. You want the potatoes to be cooked and beginning to brown on the top and the cod to be flaking and yielding (a little poke about with a knife will let you know whether that is the case).

Serve with a green salad and some crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce.

The Future is Bright - Chicken with Lemon and Thyme #BrightFutures

Amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easy to forget about the things that really matter, in my case, spending enough quality time with my children, as I know that by teaching them and investing in them, you create bright futures for all that come into contact with them, either directly or indirectly. We talk about waste; we talk about caring for the environment; we talk about helping those less fortunate than us.

That is why I am enthusiastic about the idea of promoting a #BrightFuture, Unilever’s drive to promote sustainability, ethical practice and their dedication to improving people’s lives across the world. As this is a food blog, I want to talk about the ways in which you can create brighter futures for others by thinking seriously about how we buy, treat and consume food.

Unilever’s involvement with Rainforest Alliance certified products is one way in which you can do something pretty great by doing very little. A PG cuppa, for example, and a sit down with those who you love is an immediate hit of kindness and an example of caring for those around you, whilst supporting those in the tea plantations around the world who wish to farm sustainably. Making a simple choice of putting a Rainforest Alliance banana into your child’s lunchbox means that you are thinking about the health and wellbeing of your children as well as helping those on banana plantations have a better life. Crumbling a Knorr stock cube to make a chicken stock is supporting the idea of farming sustainability because of their desire to improving agricultural practices in the production of their goods.

So what do I do? What can we do?

Seasonality

I buy in season. Buying strawberries in winter is crazy because they take like wet cotton wool and have been flown half way around the world. The taste of the first strawberry from the garden in late spring/early summer, when it has been gently warmed by the sun is the stuff that makes us foodies swoon with delight… and most kids too.

Buy what I need.

I can’t get to the supermarket in the week as I am usually hiding behind a veritable ‘Great Wall of China’ of exercise books. So, I do it all online, but only after planning what I intend to cook for the week and buying just what I need. I used to throw out loads and feel guilty about the (wo)manpower that had been wasted to make it, the energy needed, the fact that people are starving in many parts of the world and I am filling a bin full of food that, with more forethought, could have produced a tasty meal.

Leftovers are pretty fabulous.

The joy of making that oversize cottage pie/lasagne/chilli is that you get to put what’s leftover into a plastic container and take it to work the next day. Bung it in the microwave, wait for the ping and hey presto, you’ve avoided wasting petrol and additional costs by not going to the pie shop (if you’re me, that is…)

Sustainability and Ethical Practice

The selecting of products which support growers and producers is something that can be easily accomplished. You’re probably supporting many of these great causes already by buying products that support producers worldwide and happily, many of these products are not necessarily more expensive than those that are not as ethically orientated. Win win. However, it’s worth considering those products that might be dearer, especially something like chicken, which tastes so much better when there has been ethical treatment of the chook before it reaches the bright lights of the fridge section.

Talking of chicken, and this is where there has to be a recipe, for this is a food blog, I love getting all of us sat down round the table sometime of a weekend and having a really good meal. Brighter futures start at home; those moments where I can spend quality time with Lola and Finn, chatting, laughing, teaching, caring… Cooking is one of the ways that I show my love and in my own way I am creating a safe, happy environment which I hope that will encourage my children to pass on as they grow.

Easter Chicken with Thyme and Garlic, adapted from ‘Eat Greek for a Week’ by Tonia Buxton

Ingredients:

1.5kg free range/organic/corn-fed chicken

2 lemons (unavoidable air miles, due to a lack of Mediterranean climate…)

1 bay leaf

3tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp thyme leaves

Approximately 40 cloves of garlic (unpeeled, thankfully)

2 large onions (or you could use 10 peeled shallots)

150ml white wine

250ml chicken stock (I used a Knorr stock cube – see my preamble)

100ml Greek yoghurt (many small producers make their own versions of ‘Greek’ yoghurt)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c Put a lemon and a bay leaf into the cavity of the chicken. Season the chicken all over, including the inside. Brush the oil over the chicken skin and season it with salt and pepper. Sprinkle one tbsp. of the thyme leaves over the chicken.

Place the cloves of garlic and the onions in the bottom of a large ovenproof casserole and put the chicken on top.

Cut the remaining lemon into quarters and tuck them in under the bird.

Pour over the wine and the chicken stock, then cover with a tight fitting lid. Put the casserole onto a moderate heat until it reaches a simmer, then, place in the oven for about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. Ensure the chicken is cooked through by piercing the thickest part of the leg with a skewer or knife to see if the juices run clear.

Carefully remove the chicken, onions and garlic to a warmed dish, leaving the ‘sauce’ in the bottom of the casserole. Cover with foil. Skim the sauce for any fat that has risen to the surface then add the remaining thyme and the yoghurt to make a ‘creamy’ sauce. Bring to the boil for a couple of minutes, season to taste and then pour the sauce into a warmed jug.

Serve the chicken with the sauce and whatever suitable accompaniments you fancy.

 This post is an entry for BritMums #brightFuture Challenge, sponsored by Unilever and linking to http://www.brightfuture.unilever.com.

Not quite Barefoot Contessa - Lasagne with Chicken Sausage

My admiration for the Barefoot Contessa knows absolutely no bounds. Ever since that hot June afternoon when I sat down with a tiny Lola and flicked through the TV channels trying to find something to stare absentmindedly at whilst it was bottle time, I have been a fan. There she appeared, on my TV screen, looking all smiley and homely, with her lovely house and her Kitchen Aid and those cute American measuring cups, putting her ‘good vanilla’ and half a pound of butter into a bowl, and I thought, ‘Oh yes, this could be me.’ Unfortunately, instead of ‘habitating’ in The Hamptons, I was lounging somewhere near Liverpool, half asleep, not yet totally dressed, with a little bit of baby dribble adorning my left shoulder but all that was mere detail. This was going to happen. I could breeze in and out in my Mercedes/BMW, the odd dinner party here, the trip to the speciality food store for some mozzarella from the happiest buffalo in the whole world there. Bring it on.

Fast forward 10 years and I have the nice house (though it’s not what you’d call ‘tidy’ – I need at least two hours warning of any visit so I can shift the dogs, children, washing, yesterday’s plates, clothes, etc.)  Phill bought me a Kenwood for my birthday instead of a Kitchen Aid (I am very grateful; I know that sounds like I am not…) and I bought my own measuring cups. Not much going on on the old Mercedes/BMW front but I like to zip about in my little Fiesta up to the farm shop for some carrots… I think the point I am trying to make is that sometimes it’s nice to take an idea and put a twist on it and kind of make it yours, and that is what I did with my ‘I am going to be like the Barefoot Contessa fixation’ and the Barefoot Contessa’s Turkey Sausage Lasagne recipe. I used chicken sausage. And it was fabulous.

Lasagne is a very important dish in our house. I’d like to say it is because of our Italian roots but collectively we’re not that interesting. However, it was a lasagne that wooed Phill (along with, I hope, my stunning wit and repartee, my jolly personality and what I am going to call my ‘allure’) and if I happen to think out loud about what to cook for dinner, I know what the answer is. How would  my brood take to this lasagne craziness? The answer, thankfully, was a general thumbs up, though for the reasons above, Phill said he preferred the real thing. This, however, is a tasty, ramped up humdinger of a dish that epitomises Barefoot Contessa recipes. They’re never bland.

Lasagne with chicken sausage, adapted from ‘Barefoot Contessa Family Style’ by Ina Garten, or you can find the original recipe here

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 1/2 lb chicken sausages, casings removed

1 ½ tins chopped tomatoes

5 – 6 tbsp tomato puree

Large handful chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided

pack of fresh basil leaves, chopped

salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound no cook lasagne sheets

15 oz ricotta cheese

3 to 4 oz creamy goat cheese, crumbled

10oz Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1lb fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a large (10- to 12-inch) pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9 x 12 x 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta, and one third of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

I served this with salad and garlic bread.

Bloody Great! Chicken with Marsala, Olives and Blood Oranges

So, here I am continuing to bore you with my new found virtuosity. I have no idea whether this recipe is truly healthy, whatever that means, but my word… it made me feel good. In fact, the fact that I was able to muster this up on a school night is testament not only to my new found energy (well…actually, I don’t know whether I would take it that far. I merely decided to swerve the marking of year 9 books in order to eat because I was that hungry I could have eaten my own arms) but also the ease in which this amazing tasting dish can be created. Yes, even on a school night.

This divine tasting dish is from Diana Henry’s ‘A Bird in the Hand’. It is likely, due to amount of chicken that is being eaten in the household lately, that I will be cooking my way through this frankly fabulous tome of chicken recipes. I haven’t read one yet that I know I wouldn’t like. This recipe uses that seemingly rare beast, the blood orange, which is a particular favourite of mine, their sanguine juice and flesh slightly acidic tang adding colour and flavour to anything and everything. I got mine from the local farm shop, Windy Arbour, in Billinge.

I used chicken breasts on the bone for this one, instead of jointed chicken pieces. Personally I’d have been happy with any part of the chicken but I seem to be surrounded by people who don’t want to deal with too much in the way of bones, so chicken breasts it is. What I will say though is the way of cooking this kept the chicken incredibly moist and seemed to infuse flavour into what I think is sometimes the blandest cut of the bird. Anyway, happy bubs, happy Phill, happy me.

I served this cooked with spelt which had initially been sautéed with onions, and then braised in chicken stock, finished with a sprinkling of parsley. All together it was seriously delish and it’s one that I will be cooking again, as soon as the blood oranges make their welcome appearance.

Chicken with Marsala, Olives and Blood Oranges from ‘A Bird in the Hand’ by Diana Henry

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad, twice (4 – 6 people)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium British free-range chicken, jointed into 8 (I used chicken supremes)

2 small red onions, halved and cut into crescent moon-shaped slices

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

100ml dry Marsala

Juice 1 blood orange, plus 2 blood oranges

8 fresh thyme sprigs (I used 1 ½ tsp of dried thyme)

1-2 large handfuls good quality green olives

A little caster sugar

Heat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/gas 5.

On the hob, heat the olive oil in a broad, shallow casserole or ovenproof pan in which the chicken joints can lie in a single layer (I used my oval cast iron casserole) Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then brown on both sides, skin-side first, over a medium-high heat. Be careful not to turn the chicken pieces over before they come away easily from the base of the pan, otherwise you will tear the skin. Transfer to a plate.

Drain off all but a couple of tablespoons of the oil, then add the onions to the pan. Cook over a low-medium heat for around 5 minutes or until the onions begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the marsala to the pan and scrape up all any flavourful sticky bits on the bottom. Add the blood orange juice. Return the chicken – and any meat juices – to the pan, skin-side up. Season, then add the dried thyme. Bring to the boil, then take the pan off the heat and put it in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut a slice off the bottom and top of each whole blood orange so they have a flat base on which to sit. Using a very sharp knife, cut the peel and pith from each orange, working around the fruit and cutting in broad slices from top to bottom. Slice the oranges into rounds and pick out any pips.

Take the chicken out of the oven, then add the olives and lay over the sliced blood oranges (the oranges should stay on top, out of the liquid). Sprinkle the orange slices with a little sugar, then return the pan to the oven and cook for another 20 minutes. The juices should have reduced, the orange slices should be golden, even caramelised in patches, and the chicken should be cooked through.

Spoon over some of the juices, then serve immediately. I served this with pearled spelt, cooked with onions in chicken stock.

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I AM NOT ON A DIET. I AM NOT ON A DIET (repeat to fade) Chicken with Lentils and Rosemary

I am not on a diet. Diet is a dirty word. It conjures up ideas of solitary lettuce leaves and a kind of hunger which makes you want to kill someone (in my case anyway that is; I am always at my most calm and serene with a full stomach). So, what I am doing is making better choices. I am ‘doing stuff better’ a la my New Year’s Resolution (mentioned here) and it is a vague enough notion to ensure that I don’t fail. Let’s face it; ‘doing stuff better’ could mean anything. But at this time, it means selecting foods to eat that I know are good for me and that I enjoy, and staying off the pies.

It is, with this in mind, that a foray into the latest Waitrose magazine led me to discover a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall dish for chicken with lentils and rosemary. Yum, says I, for though lentils get a bad rap, I absolutely adore them and as such, should eat a whole lot more of them. In this recipe, the lentils draw in the flavour of chicken stock, onions, garlic and rosemary and transform into something gorgeously tasty and satisfying, so much so I probably could have eaten a bowl of that alone and felt pretty damn satisfied. The accompanying chicken was more a bonus than the main event for me.

This is pretty easy to make. It’s a one pot wonder essentially and thus good for a night where I can’t really be bothered with much culinary flourish. It does require more effort than hurling some oven chips in the general direction of the cooker, but once you have sautéed your onion, garlic, rosemary and then added the lentils and stock, you are good to go really. Just plonk the chicken on top. And I don’t know whether it was luck or judgement, but the resulting dish was the cooked down tastiness of the lentils but with some on top still retaining their shape but yielding willingly as you ate. Yum. The consistency of the lentils, kind of reminded me a little of mash, and that could never be a bad thing.

I served this with steamed spring greens, their verdant, iron rich goodness complimenting the chicken and the lentils completely.

Chicken with Rosemary and Lentils, taken from Waitrose magazine

Serves 4/5 people

My alterations in red.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil

1 large onion, sliced (I used two biggish ones)

4 garlic cloves, chopped

Leaves from 2 sprigs of rosemary

200g red lentils, well rinsed

500ml chicken or veg stock (I used chicken stock. It was quite a strong stock)

8 skin-on, bone-in, free-range chicken thighs, or 1 medium chicken (about 1.75kg/4lb), jointed into 6-8 pieces (I used four chicken breasts on the bone, skin on)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to finish

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c

In a flameproof casserole pan or pot that will be big enough to hold the chicken in one layer, add the oil, then the onion and cook, stirring regularly, for six to eight minutes until it begins to soften. Add the garlic, rosemary and some salt and pepper. Cook gently for a further five minutes, then stir in the lentils and stock.

Season the chicken and place skin-side up in the casserole. The chicken skin should remain exposed above the liquid in the dish so it can brown in the oven.

Bring to a simmer on the hob, then transfer to the oven and bake, uncovered, for about an hour. Mine took about 50 minutes. Check that the chicken is cooked right through and the lentils are soft. If not, return to the oven for 10-15 minutes and test again.

Skim off any excess fat from the surface. Taste the lentils and add more salt or pepper if needed. Mine did need a bit more seasoning.

Scatter over the parsley.

I served this with spring greens.