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Sign up to receive newsletters from Jackie French by email every month! The newsletters will keep you informed of updates to the website, the latest news on Jackie and her books, and lots of other fun stuff! JANUARY 2010 JACKIE FRENCH NEWS - MAIN MEALSMain Course
Six Easy Ways to Roast a ChookLemon Chicken Time taken to cook: about 40 minutes, but add another half an hour the first time you make it. You'll get quicker with practice. This looks complicated, but once you have done it once it's easy. (Which is the case with any meal.) It won't taste quite like mine, as I use home grown herbs that you can't buy, like winter savoury and garlic sage, plus home grown lemons that have lots of flavour, and fresh garlic that tastes a bit different from supermarket garlic too. I also use organic, free range chicken that has more flavour than supermarket birds. But … it will still be very good. Ingredients:
Thaw the chicken in the sink overnight or during the day if it's frozen. Spread the chicken out in an oven pan, with the skin on the outside. it'll now be a large flat chicken. This helps it cook much faster, and be more tender and not as dry. It also allows the flavour to seep in. Lift the chicken up again, and put all the cloves of garlic under it. Turn off the oven. Use an oven mitt or a tea towel to lift the pan and chicken onto the top of the stove. The chicken will have stuck to the pan with brown burnt like bits. Don't worry. You want this - it gives flavour. Keep stirring and simmering for about 20 minutes. If it goes dry at any spot, add more stock or water. It should be at least as deep as the first joint of your thumb. By now the garlic should be soft; it more or less dissolves in the gravy. Don’t worry if it’s not quite dissolved - a few bits taste good. Turn the stove to as low as possible. When the white from the cornflour turns transparent and the sauce is thickish, it is ready. You can now keep it in a Tupperware container with the lid on in the fridge for up to five days. Roast Chicken with veg and gravy Ingredients:
Put the onions and garlic inside the chicken and place in a roasting pan. Arrange the veg around it. Put the roasting pan in the oven at 200C, and cook for an hour. Wiggle the leg with tongs. If the chook is browned and the leg brown feels like you can pull it out, it’s done. If not, cook longer. When cooked take pan out of the oven. Pour off any fat - not into the sink, or you’ll block it. I pour onto stale bread to give to the chooks. Otherwise pour into an old mug, let solidify, and throw away. Rosemary Chicken Yoghurt Roast Chicken Place chicken in a deep oven proof casserole. Mix the following ingredients: Thai Spice Pot Roast Chicken Place chicken in a deep oven proof casserole, and roast for 1 hour. Pour into pot, place on stove and boil till the stock is reduced by ½. Six Sticky Chicken Wing Recipes(1 gigantic meal or 3 smaller ones)Note: These are all sticky, sweet chicken wings, the sort you need to eat with your fingers. Five Spice Treasure Chicken Wings Ingredients:
Place wings in a baking dish. Pour over the water and soy sauce. Dribble over the honey. Sprinkle on the five spice. Put in the oven at 220C. Bake till brown- about half an hour. Turn them over. Bake about 20 minutes till brown on the other side. Mix cornflour into the extra water in a cup till it's smooth. Pour over the chicken and stir till it's mixed into the sauce. (This will thicken it). Bake another ten minutes. Turn the wings over in the sauce a few times so they are well covered. Eat hot or cold Barbeque Chicken wings Turn wings over several times as they cook. Chilli Chicken wings Turn wings over several times as they cook. Lemon Chicken Wings Honey and Thyme Chicken Wings Six Ways with Chicken ThighsOrange Chicken Ingredients:
Place the chicken in a baking pan. Pour over the other ingredients except cornflour and water. Bake for 40 minutes at 200C. Mix the cornflour and water in with the sauce. Bake another 10 minutes till it thickens. Stir it well so the sauce covers the chicken. Eat hot. This is good with rice. Serves 4 Lemon Chicken Ingredients:
Place the chicken in a baking pan. Pour over the other ingredients except cornflour and water. Bake for 40 minutes at 200C. Mix the cornflour and water in with the sauce. Bake another 10 minutes till it thickens. Stir it well so the sauce covers the chicken. Eat hot. Chicken Curry Ingredients:
Bake for 1 hour at 200C. Can be reheated. Creamy Chicken Curry Ingredients:
Cover chicken in a baking pan with stock and curry paste, and bake 40 minutes at 200C. Tomato and Basil Chicken Ingredients:
Cover chicken in a baking pan with all except the water and cornflour and the basil. Chicken Chile con Carne Ingredients:
Bake all except coriander for an hour. Add coriander. Serve. Six ways with Baked Fish Fillets or hunks or whole fish1. Take any fish - fillets or whole fish. 2. As above, but wipe fish with a thin film of curry paste. 3. As above, but serve with avocado and coriander salsa. Ingredients: 4 tomatoes, diced Mix. You can add salad dressing if you like, or 1 tbsp fish sauce mixed with 3 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp lemon juice. 4. Garlic and Thyme fish. 5. Fish and potatoes Spread oil in baking dish and add slices of potato. Pour on cream, or stock 6. Fish and tomatoes with olives Rice and VegetablesWe eat lots of veg. They are cheap (free if you grow them), and good for you. Even when you add a bit of olive oil or even cream or bacon or ham, they are still lower in calories (and carbohydrates if you avoid potato, corn, carrots and sweet potato) than meat and pasta. It’s worth adding the luxury fats to make you want to eat more veg instead of other stuff. How to Cook Rice
Boil till the rice is tender, and drain. This may take 10-20 minutes, depending on what sort of rice it is. Different rices absorb different amounts of water, so check it isn't going to boil dry till soft. If it looks gluggy put it in a sieve and run hot water over it till some of the gluggy starch washes away. Asparagus Bend the asparagus till they snap about a third of the way along. Throw away the tough part. Place in a large saucepan and just cover with water. Bring to the boil. Boil for two minutes. Drain off the water then put the lid on the pan about five minutes while you put the rest of dinner out. The asparagus will keep cooking in the steam in the hot pot, and be soft but not as mushy as if you boiled them longer, and they will have more flavour to Serve hot or cold with salad dressing, or with a dish like meatballs that has lots of sauce. If you want to serve asparagus as a first course, or as the main dish for dinner, make the stuffed eggs from ‘starters’. Mash them up and pile small mounds of the mashed egg and stuffing onto each plate of asparagus. Asparagus and Cheese sauce Ingredients:
Put the asparagus in an oven proof dish. Put everything else in a saucepan. Stir well with a wooden spoon so the flour has dissolved. Turn the heat onto low under the saucepan. Stir all the time while the sauce heats. If you don’t it might burn on the bottom or go lumpy. Keep stirring till it turns thick. This will take about ten minutes. You can leave the sauce to cool now, and use it later, or keep it in the fridge for up to a week. If using it now, pour it over the asparagus Put the pan in the oven. Turn the oven on to high. Cook until the cheese sauce is bubbling and slightly brown- about 10-15 minutes. Serve hot. Keep in the fridge for up to a week, but not if it’s in metal- if you have used a metal baking dish, scoop leftovers into a plastic or oven proof pottery container. Reheat in the microwave. Variation: Zucchini in Cheese sauce Ingredients:
Thinly slice zucchini longways or crossways. Place in an oven proof dish. Pour on cheese sauce. Put the pan in the oven. Turn the oven on to high. Cook until the cheese sauce is bubbling and slightly brown- about 10-15 minutes. Serve hot. Keep in the fridge for up to a week, but not if it’s in metal- if you have used a metal baking dish, scoop leftovers into a plastic or oven proof pottery container. Reheat in the microwave. Stir Fried Veg Ingredients: Select from:
Take any veg at all, and cut them into very small pieces, each about the same size. If you are going to add leafy veg, like chopped cabbage, silver beet, spinach or Chinese cabbage or wong bok. Chop them finely. You may want to cook the other veg first and add them at the last minute, as they only take a minute to cook if the pan is hot, and become soggy and stringy if you cook them too long. Put the stove onto high. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan or a wok. (You need about the same amount of oil for a large amount as a small amount, as the oil needs to coat the pan). Throw in the veg. Stir with a wooden spoon while the vegetables fry. You need to keep stirring them or they will steam in their own juices instead of frying crisply. Some people like them crisp – cook for about 2 minutes. If you are adding sauce – and they do taste much better with one of the sauces above - cook for 3 minutes, then add the sauce. Cook for another 2 minutes. If the veg are still too crisp for your taste, add 1 tbsp of water and keep cooking. Repeat till the veg are as soft as you like them. Variations Frozen Vegetables If you are boiling the peas, add 1 tsp of honey per person to the water before you boil them. You can also add a few outside lettuce leaves. I know this sounds odd, but it adds flavour. Fish out the limp leaves before serving. And you can of course add 1 tbsp butter once you have drained the peas, though this adds calories as well as cholesterol. Peas with ham or pancetta Ingredients:
You need about 3 tbsps of frozen peas and 1 tsp of chopped ham, bacon or pancetta per person. If you use onions too, you need about 1 tbsp of chopped onion per person. If you add capsicum, add ½ -3 tbsps per person. If you add chilli, 1 chopped chilli is good for about 4 people. The chilli adds heat; the capsicum adds colour. Put a very slight film - about a tsp - of olive oil in a frying pan or large saucepan. Add the ham, bacon or pancetta and capsicum, chilli or onions if you are using them, and cook on the lowest heat you can for about 5 minutes. Stir all the time so the meat doesn’t stick. When the onion is transparent, or the meat is crisp, add the peas, and just enough water or stock to half cover them. Put the heat onto high and boil till almost all the moisture has gone. Stir near the end so the veg and meat don’t stick. Serve hot, at once, or put in the fridge in a sealed container for up to a week, and reheat in the microwave. It’s worth making a lot so you have leftovers to reheat. PotatoesPotato Gratin Ingredients:
Peel the potatoes. Slice them thinly. Arrange them in slices in an oven proof dish. It’s best if there are only two or three layers, though I sometimes make deep ones. Pour the cream slowly over them, so that they have all had some cream on them. Bake in a slow oven - about 150 C- till the top is brown and crisp, about 1 hour. Serve hot. You can make this earlier in the day, or the day before and reheat it at 150C for 10 minutes. Time taken: 10 minutes to put together, 1 hour to cook. A large gratin: if I am making a deep gratin for many people, I mix I tbsp of cornflour with the cream before I pour it on. If I don’t do this the cream can separate into cream solids and butter during the long cooking. This is still delicious, but doesn’t look as good, even if your pour off the butter before serving. Variations Mashed Potato Ingredients:
Peel the potatoes. Cut into slices. Cover with water. Boil till the potatoes are soft- test by poking with a knife. Drain off the water. Add the milk, or the butter and cream. Press down with your potato masher till it’s all mashed, then whip the mix with the masher round and round a few times to lighten it. Add a grate of black pepper and serve hot. This mashed potato can be kept in the fridge for up to a week and reheated in the microwave or oven. I usually make a big pot, mash it with butter, and let it cool, then heat it up with the cream when I want to serve it. Add half a carrot and 2 tbsp of frozen peas for every potato, and mash together. Looks and tastes great and you only need one pot for your veg. Use half potato and half pumpkin, or half potato and half sweet potato Add finely chopped chives or spring onion as soon as you have drained off the water, so they partially cook in the heat. I add about half a tbsp per potato. Idaho Potatoes Wash spuds. Don’t wrap in alfoil. It just makes them soggy, and you lose the nice crisp skin. The alfoil recipe was just a cunning marketing idea to sell alfoil. It helped turn turned a generation into eating pasta instead of potatoes. Bake at 200C - 40 minutes for small ones, 60 minutes for large ones. Test by cutting one open if you're not sure if they're cooked. Serve by themselves, or open the alfoil and slice open the top and dab on light sour cream. Oven Chips Spread 1tbsp oil onto a baking tray or spray with olive oil. Turn the oven onto its highest setting. Place the spuds on the tray. Roll them over in the oil or spray them well with olive oil. Bake till golden brown in the oven. This will take 10-25 minutes depending on how hot your oven can get and what sort of spud they are. Check after 10 minutes and then every five minutes. If you cook two trays at once wait till the top tray is brown then change places with the bottom tray, as things don't brown well on the bottom of the oven. Use an oven mitt or folded tea towel and beware- hot chips and fat are easily spilt. Sprinkle with salt before serving. I use ‘rock salt’- it s a chunky salt that tastes even more salty. I often blend the salt with spices, but you can buy spiced slats too. Native Spice salt is one of the best, and so is Siam salt. Optional: sprinkle on ground chilli before you cook, or 1 teaspoon rosemary or thyme leaves, or place 6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled, around the chip tray to add a good garlic flavour. Parsley and other SaladsParsley Salad Dressing
For texture
For colour
Serve on one very large bowl and let every help themselves. It takes about ten minutes to mix. You shouldn't need anything else, and it's so healthy you can pig out with giant helpings. And if you think growing your dinner takes too much time – time yourself next time you're at the supermarket. Where would you rather be – picking parsley in the dusk with the scent of ripe tomatoes, or standing in the checkout with nothing but a stand of New Idea and chocolate bars to look at? Salad DressingsStandard Salad Dressing Ingredients:
Savage Salad Dressing Ingredients:
Fish Sauce Dressing Ingredients:
Avocado Sauce Ingredients:
Optional: 2 tbsps finely chopped parsley or coriander Throw it all in a glass jar. Put the lid on. Shake well. Keep in the fridge for up to a week. A few other recipes for food I sometimes serve around Christmas: not as simple as the ones above, but easy once you get into it.Bloody Mary Soup Ingredients: Meatballs in Tomato and Basil Sauce Ingredients:
Roll into egg sized balls. Better option: Simmer i.e. on a low heat, for half an hour. Add 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 4 tbsp water if you want to thicken it, then simmer for another 5 minutes to take away the taste of raw cornflour. I usually don’t thicken it. Add half chopped basil or 1tb fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano for more favour bout 5 minutes before you want to serve it. Baked ham Note: The ham you buy is already cooked, but these days most hams are pumped full of water and nitrates, to give them their taste and colour. The baking cooks out a lot of this water, and adds a flavour that ordinary commercial hams don’t have. But you can, of course, eat the ham without baking it first. If you have killed a wild pig, freeze the meat first for a couple of weeks, then soak it in water and salt- ¼ bucket salt and half bucket water, then add the ham. Cover, and leave for a week in a cool larder, then hang up in the chimney (if you have one) where it will be smoked for a week, or up to three months if you want a very hard textured very smoky ham that will keep longer. Then cook. Wild pig had much less fat. This year I baked our ham on the barbeque, in a baking dish. Ingredients:
Peel off the hard brown skin. Use your fingers to wiggle off most of the fat. Put the lumps of fat in the baking pan. The skin can be cut into thin strips and baked till crisp, then sprinkled with slat, if you are fond of the taste of fat and salt. Otherwise, throw out to feed to the chooks, but don’t give them too much, as it will be salty and too much salt can kill them – a slice a day is enough. Place ham in baking dish. The fatty slide should be uppermost. Press the whole cloves into the top half. Cloves have pointy ends- these ends are easily pressed in. I first do a row own the middle, then rows next to it, so that it eventually forms a pattern. Pour over orange juice and honey. Place in oven. Turn oven onto low, about 150C, or the BBQ onto its lowest setting, then put the cover on so it’s like an oven. Every half an hour take a big spoon, put on oven gloves, and ‘baste’ – scoop up the fatty sweet juice and pour over the meat, making sure it’s all covered. Then close oven. Cook for 2-4 hours, till shiny and dark brown, but not blackened. Slice thinly. Serve cold. Ham covered in plastic sweats and goes bad more quickly. That’s why ‘ham bags’ are used- an old pillowcase works as well, or wrap in alfoil. Leftovers: Serve with a hot white onion sauce: the cheese sauce with no cheese. Instead, sauté 1 onion or every cup of milk or cheese in 1 tbsp butter or olive oil till soft, then add to sauce. Quiche without a crust Mix Ingredients:
Place into a baking dish, or into four coffee mugs. Bake at 200C till set and light brown on top - about 40 minutes for a big dish, half an hour for the small mugs. Vladimir’s Grated Potato Cakes Ingredients:
Optional: 1 grated red peeled onion; half a bunch finely chopped parsley or coriander; 2 peeled grated carrots; 4 tbsp grated raw yellow sweet potato; half a cup finely chopped small tender celery leaves; half a chopped, seeded red capsicum; 1-10 chopped fresh red or green chillies, seeds removed. Note: Wash hands after chopping or use gloves - the juice can seriously burn eyes, noses and other sensitive bits. Once used to torture captives, so treat it warily. Heat a fry pan on high for two minutes; turn the heat down to medium and add 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Drop big spoonfuls of the mix into the oil; press down so they are about as wide as your hand. After 3 minutes wiggle a spatula or egg slice under them to stop them sticking, but if the pan is hot and oil covered they shouldn’t stick. After five minutes turn them over. If they are brown on top cook the other side for five minutes then turn over and over, til both sides are brown. By then the inside will be cooked. Serve hot but I also love them cold. Good with just about any sauce, even bottled tomato sauce or sweet chilli sauce. Commercial chilli jam is excellent too. Optional: I add half a cup chopped ham to the mix for Bryan, and sometimes half a cup leftover baked fish. Beef or Feral Goat Stew Ingredients:
Please the above ingredients in a saucepan or casserole. Add half a cup red wine if you have some left over. You can also add chopped celery, parsley, peas, broad beans, or the white and pale green part of leeks. If it’s an old tough goat, do add the wine; I’d also add 3 chillies to counter the goat effect. Put the lid on. Simmer for 1 hour. Kebabs Take chunks of chicken, lamb or beef fillet or rump steak, or very small slices of very young goat leg.
You can also add a little grated cucumber if you want to. Stir Fry Heat a little oil in wok or fry pan. Fry small pieces of meat- lamb beef or chicken- at a high heat till brown. Add chopped garlic, onions, capsicum, celery, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower or other vegetables. Turn off the heat. Eat immediately. PS. If you are cooking a lot of meat take it out while you cook the vegetables, then add the meat with the soy sauce and sherry. If you don't have sherry soy sauce by itself is okay, though not as good. For more information from Jackie, please go to her website: www.jackiefrench.com Sign up to receive monthly email newsletters from Jackie French. The newsletter will keep you informed of updates to the website, the latest news on Jackie and her books, and lots of fun stuff! And it's free! Please note: The privacy of your information is very important to us. It is our policy not to share the information collected with other organisations, nor will the information be used for any other purpose apart from sending you these newsletters. Please read our privacy policy for more information.You can unsubscribe to the newsletter at any time by sending an email to melanie.peake@harpercollins.com.au |
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