Last week saw some crap events, building work not going to plan, carpenters falling through floors, destroying newly completed ceilings below etc. but nothing could prepare us for some truly awful news. Rib shatteringly shite as a friend described it. Hearts were broken, lives changed forever. I don't know how to comfort my loved ones. I am at a complete loss for words that can really tell them just how utterly mortified I am by the news. Everything just seems rather pointless. So I decided if I can't tell them, I'll show them! So I did what I do rather well, & what I seem to find enormous comfort in. I cooked a huge, delicious feast & I'm going to share it with you here.
I am a great believer in food. There is always food for every occasion & to suit any mood, you might have to sample a few dishes, but believe me, it's out there! This week we needed comfort & I needed to wrap everyone in blankets of love, for me, the best, most healing way to do this is roast a fabulous chicken!( or two). In summer, this is my 'chicken of choice' ; Italian roasted Chicken with Peppers & Olives. Or as my 3 year old son, Hugh, called it; 'Juicy Chicken' I just love this versatile recipe. It is exactly as Hugh says- juicy! It's the juiciest, easiest, most delicious chicken I have ever cooked. The initial meal is just fabulous, sweet summer in every bite, but equally what I invariably find myself doing is cooking two chickens together, serving the one & having the second ready to make 'leftover' meals with. It is spectacularly good on a fresh, warm ciabatta for supper and just as greedily edible made into a pie with the addition of some mushroom & a simple sauce. Which, this weekend, is exactly what I made, so I will show you both recipes.
I adapted this recipe from the great Nigella Lawson. It appears in her book 'Nigellissima' which at first I wasn't terribly impressed with, but then I started to cook form it & oh my gosh!!! I love it! It's my 'go to' book for most of my moods. So, if you too weren't that into it, persevere!
This is how I do it! ;
2 chickens, each 1.5kg or more! ( I get mine from a proper butchers or the farm shops & always try for organic& ALWAYS true free range.)
2 unwaxed lemons
Couple of sprigs fresh rosemary
4 or more leeks
5-6 peppers mix of red, yellow orange. (I used green here as they were from my garden & not quite ripe yet, but my personal thought was better my own organic, natural peppers than mass produced supermarket junk. Out of respect for Ms Lawson, who declares green peppers the only food she doesn't like, I usually don't use them! )
A large jar of black olives. Nigella specifies 'dry packed' in here original recipe, but I have to say,I just find the jarred ones only give more delicious juices, what's not to love? The only thing I say is not in brine. Bleugh.
Next is olive oil, but you see, if you have used olives in a jar of olive oil, you can just tip some of that over your birds.
Salt & pepper( sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, but I'm sure I don't need to say that)
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 (fan assisted, reduced accordingly, mine is fan & generally I cook is at 180C.
Remove your birds from fridge, untruss & allow to relax & come to room temp if poss. Cut your lemons in half & stuff the large cavity of each bird with one lemon & a sprig of rosemary. Place in a large roasting tin. Drizzle with approx 3-4 table spoons(per bird) of the oil from the olives. Place in the oven.
Meanwhile prepare your veg! First, cut your leeks in half lengthways, then cut each half into approx 3 half logs. Remove the stalks & seeds from the peppers, slicing them into approximate slices, try to follow the natural contour lines of the peppers.
After your chicken has been cooking for about 30mins,pull it out of the oven and add the veg & olives. Give it all a bit of a gentle mix round so the veg are lightly covered in he oil/juice then back in the oven for another hour or so.
That's it. No basting, no poking, just forget about it. When it is cooked the juices will run clear if you stick it with a skewer in the thickest part of the leg. Also, when you open he over to check it, you will see the birds are quite literally swimming in juice, at least an inch deep! This is quite how it should be. When they are cooked, remove to a carving board to rest for 10 mins, meanwhile, return the tin with all the veg & juice back to the oven, turning the oven off so it doesn't burn!
This is the genius bit- don't mess around delicately slicing, we want lovely rustic chunks! Place all your delicious chicken chunks & bits on a warmed platter, take the tin from the oven, & casually, without too much effort, arrange the veg around/ over the chicken. Pour over all the fabulous juices & serve!
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Writing this out makes it seem awfully complicated but it's not, not at all! You can easily just put the veg in with the chicken at the start, in fact this is what Nigella does in her original recipe, but I find the veg tends to burn if I do that.
I served this with jersey royals dressed very simply with butter, fresh mint & sea salt. I also made Nigella's Greek Salad. Again, I always seem to double the quantities here so I can have it for lunch (ha, breakfast!!) the next day!
On Monday, I used the left over meat from the chicken to make an amazing chicken & mushroom pie. My two eldest swear they hate mushrooms, but both greedily scoff every bit of this pie!
It's very difficult to give the exact quantities you will need as it depends on the amount of chicken you have left over, but this is what I use when I have a whole (ish) roast chickens worth of meat. If that makes sense?
Leftover roast chicken
An onion, chopped
Garlic clove or two, finely chopped
Chestnut mushrooms ( quantity upto you depending on how much you like mushrooms! I use ALOT)
2 tbsp - ish plain flour
300ml milk(full fat)
200ml chicken stock( I have been known to make my own from the bones but invariably I just use one of those fab little stock pots!
Some puff pastry. I use all butter, but it's up to you. I also have been known to buy whatever is on offer...
Right, in a pan ( I use a deep, straight sided frying pan, which I'm sure has a very fancy name, but I have no idea what it is) warm a little olive. Add the chopped onion & chopped mushroom, sauté over a low heat for 5 mins or so. Then add your chicken & garlic, being very careful to heat it gently for another 5-8 mins(ish). Add the flour, stir in & cook for another 2 mins.
Add the stock & milk, cook, stirring, until it is nicely thick. Pour into your dish.
Roll ( or unwrap) your pastry, wet the rim of the dish with water, place your pastry on top of pie, pressing the edges into the dish, make a little hole in the pastry for the steam to escape, brush all over with milk or egg or egg wash then pop into a nice warm oven, 180C approx for 30 mins or until nicely golden brown & bubbling!
I have a confession here, I didn't actually have any pastry when I made this yesterday. I forgot. Oops. So I put the mashed potato I normally serve on the side, on the top, turning it into a kind of 'shepherds pie-esque' pie. & it was delicious! So that's another option right there!
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