Foodie Friday : Sunday roast chicken with pomegranate molasses

I've always loved food but as lock down continues, I can't stop thinking about it - what have I got in the cupboards, fridge and freezer ,and what am I going to cook today ?

Living four miles from the nearest shop in the middle of the countryside means I’ve always had to make sure we don't run out of stuff, but now of course during lock down, I'm only going out shopping about once a fortnight.

We're eating very well but I can’t get used to cooking for just the two of us. It  maybe less time-consuming, but I’m missing having my family around for late Sunday lunches and I miss the noise the laughter, the news and gossip around the table. I miss everybody greedily eating with gusto.

So what will I cook for Sunday lunch then, that first one after lock down when we can all be together again?

It's a roast chicken recipe from Joanna Weinberg in her book "How to feed your friends with relish" which was published by Bloomsbury in 2007.

Why everyone loves this roast chicken recipe

I know you're all probably thinking what’s so special about that, but this one is cooked in pomegranate molasses and my whole family love it. So much so my daughter had to buy her own copy of the book. Last week I even got a text from my youngest son asking for the recipe.

Here's a photo of one  I cooked last Sunday.

 You may think it’s a little black or even burnt in places, but don't worry, it’s the molasses which give it colour and make the skin so tangy and chewy. The meat inside is moist with a zinginess thanks to ginger. garlic and cumin.

But one good recipe does not make a great cookbook. Luckily, Joanna's book has many recipes|I turn to time and time again. One is Manuela's chicken with tarragon and cream which was the favourite for Joanna and her siblings when she was young. Manuaela was the family's Portugese housekeeper, the absolute saint who cooked every day for six children of different ages with different tastes .

There's plenty of other stories in the book, even  how Joanna first met her husband Ed, at a dinner she cooked.

I like a recipe book with context,  which draws you in to the authors life and Joanna's book does just that .She takes us to parties, barbecues , Sunday lunches, afternoon teas and meals around the kitchen table with her friends and family.There's also lots  of useful tips on how to create the perfect event and cater for most scenarios..

I feel as if I’m there with her in the kitchen before her guests arrive,  having a  good gossip and a glass of wine and then being in the middle of her gang eating supper. It's an addictive mix of recipes that really work and being part of the author's world , something which always sells food books to me.

So would you like the recipe ? Here it is then ...

Roast chicken with Pomegranate molasses

Ingredients 

1 red onion 

4 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses 

1 teaspoon of ground ginger 

half a teaspoon of ground cumin

1 clove of garlic pounded to a paste

1 lemon halved

 one medium free range chicken 

Method 

Preheat the oven to 220°C gas mark seven, and finely chop half of the onion leaving the other half intact.

Mix the pomegranate molasses,chopped onion ginger, cumin, garlic and a squeeze of lemon together in a small bowl and set aside.

Stuff the remaining half of onion in the cavity of the chicken along with both lemon halves.

When the oven is hot, roast the chicken  for 15 minutes , then remove it from the oven and slather the pomegranate mixture over the skin .

Reduce the oven temperature and continue roasting the chicken for 45 minutes the skin will look black and charred  but fear not it will be delicious. If the bird is larger it may need an extra 10 to 15 minutes cooking.

Remove  the bird from the oven, loosely cover with foil and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

And there you have it....it's so very  easy to make.

Joanna Weinberg recommends cooking this as part of a Middle Eastern wintry Sunday lunch accompanied by saffron mash and chickpea stew. This works well, but is also good with potatoes dauphinoise and vegetables too. I think its perfect for spring and summer lunches with roasted asparagus, perhaps a carrot and and peanut salad, or a fruity couscous. Or with the following....

Yes, that's my wonky writing...and yes, I write notes in cookbooks.

"How to feed your friends with relish" is still available as an e-book I believe, but copies are still available on Amazon or in secondhand bookshops.

Joanna's second book, also published by Bloomsbury, is "Cooking for real life". I just wish she'd get her skates on and write a third.....will there ever be a third one though?

Days of sowing and growing peas and beans

There's nothing like picking fresh peas and beans from my garden or allotment. Popping a perfect pea into my mouth or crunching into a mange tout pea which you've grown is such a summer pleasure.

Yet last year I hardly grew any. My allotment lay unloved and my garden was neglected too, as most of my free time seemed to be spent working or in hospitals visiting my husband or looking after him in between hospital stays.

That's why this year; priorities when it came to sowing seeds, after tomatoes, were peas and beans.

This year, I got my order in early with the Real Seed Catalogue, I've been buying from Real Seeds in Wales for quite a long time off and on. To be fair, you don't need to place an annual order with them as you can save your own seeds from their heirloom and heritage vegetables.. 

This year though, I bought these.....

There hasn't been an inch of space on the dining room table since the beginning of March when I started off the tomatoes

I know you can grown peas and beans straight into the ground, but living in the middle of the countryside, I know from experience that  sowing into trays indoors gets far better results.

One of my long standing favourite pea is the rare yellow golden sweet yellow mange- tout pea . These peas grow tall and I've always grown them up a wigwam of canes, both on the allotment and in the courtyard facing my kitchen window. Their pale yellow pods almost become translucent in the direct sun, and they really are a talking point when people see them, both as they're being grown and  on the plate!

So, a very much tried,tested and loved variety of pea, and the first sowing is already growing in situ in the courtyard.

I've also ordered a semi dwarf pea called Rosakrone for the first time. It's always nice to try something new don't you think?

This is an unusual, very rare heirloom variety from Sweden. Apparently the red/pink flowers are very pretty, reaching around five feet in height, but I'm afraid if you want to buy some this year , you're too late - they're all sold out.

I shall try to save some seed for next year....

Onto beans, and broad beans are a favourite to sow early. I have tried sowing these in Autumn and overwintering them but it's such a hit and miss affair, I now wait. I sowed this first lot in early March and they're now in the garden growing very strongly. They're from Real Seeds again and they're called Aquadulce Longpod ...another  variety I haven't grown before. They're a dwarf variety, about three foot tall. I've planted them  in a small area just  behind the old privy in the garden, which earlier in  the week was a mass of nettles. I've dug and dug them out, and added some peat free compost, so am hoping for a good crop.

Of course it's too early to sow runner beans yet, but I'm looking forward to trying "The Czar"this year for the first time. You can either pick them as runner beans or can leave some to produce white beans for drying. I'm going to try them both ways. I couldn't resist opening the packet to have a sneaky peak at the beans....they're beautifully smooth and I do love a tasty, fat butterbean.

 As for climbing beans, I've still got about fifteen Mr Fothergill's "Cobra beans left from last year , which always do well so I will sow them at the end of this month.

I have already sown a tray of "Aquilon"dwarf french beans...a new variety to me from France.
On 1st April, I thought I would pop some in to see how long they take to germinate. They've absolutely romped away and will have  to go in the cold frame soon. There's plenty more to sow too.

To say I'm really pleased with the germination rate of all these varieties of peas and beans is an understatement  - so far, it's a whopping hundred per cent.

My mouth is already watering at the thought of all the broad bean frittatas, pea risottos, vats of french beans simmering in olive oil and tomatoes a la greque, and those first precious boilings of runner beans to come.

Now all I need to do is to first go and sort out the allotment ....

Days of miracles and celebrations

In these dark, dark days, our world is very different to what it is was a year ago today, but there are always signs to give us hope, something to believe in, and show us that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Even a miracle or two.

I believe in miracles, and I'm looking at a photo of one now.

Her name is Clementine Rose and tomorrow she will be three weeks old.

This time last year, my son Billy and his partner Poppy had fallen in love , but knew that  having a baby together would be medically very difficult if not impossible. It was hard for both of them , but then last summer, came some news which left them completely dumfounded and ecstatic. A miracle had happened ...and Poppy's pregnancy was very closely monitored.

So, to see this little bundle of loveliness is wonderful, to see Poppy and Billy so happy, so completely beguiled by their daughter, is such a joy and I know what devoted parents they are.



Clementine though, has been born into a world of COVID 19 and social distancing, which means that I've only seen her twice, only from a distance and I've not been able to hold her. Instead I make do with photographs, I pore over each picture, with  an actual physical ache to cuddle her and whisper soft words of love, but her safety is paramount of course.

In fact, my granddaughter is cocooned in a world of just three, all getting to know each other in their own time. I can't wait for the days as she blossoms, and finally gets to see the world and all those who also love her.

Clementine is such a dainty, dinky little dot, and today there's reason to celebrate. Born early, she weighed 6 pounds and six ounces, but has lost quite a lot of weight since then. Today, for the first time she weighs more than she did on her arrival. so yes, a day to celebrate.

There's another reason to celebrate today - it's Clementine's cousin's birthday.

Yes, my grandson  Jasper is one today! I can't quite believe how quickly time has rushed by, and how he's grown.

 

I've written about his arrival here....

https://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.com/2019/04/baby-days.html

He was another little miracle who was much longed for, and seeing the light and love he has brought to his entire, extended family is a joy.

My darling daughter Lucy and husband Harry idolise him, and no wonder why....he can look so angelic....



 

Angelic he may be, he's also very loving and a real snugglepot...but he is the funniest, quirkiest little baby who loves to laugh.

 He is so loved, just as Clementine is, and as our next grandchild  will be. Yes, there's another one on the way! Our youngest son Callum and his fiancé Elly are expecting a baby in late July and I can't wait for that moment either.

It would seem my grandchildren are like buses - as the saying goes " you wait ages for one, and then three come all at once."

Buses, unlike babies though, don't bring such happiness, such feelings of contentment, such love and such a sense of awe and wonder. Miracles do .......



Days of books and reading for babies and children

I honestly believe that one of the greatest gifts you can give a child in life is a love of reading.

It's never too soon to read a book to a baby. Jasper, my eight month old grandson,  already loves to sit on a knee, look at a book and be read to. He loves listening to the rythm and repetition of the words, so much so, he now picks up a book himself to look at.

 He also likes to put them into his mouth too, so there's some very soggy, dog eared corners.

  

 He's now got used to the lovely, comforting evening routine of having a bath, then a cuddle on his Mum's knee whilst being read to and then put to bed in his cot. It gives me such pleasure to know that's happening as that's what I used to do with all of three of my children and can't wait to do that with my grandchildren.

That's why it's so sad to read the other week that 383,775 children in the UK don't have a single book of their own. That's according to research from the National Literacy Trust which says that compared to those disadvantaged children, children who own books are six times more likely to read above their level excpected for their age and nearly three times more likely to enjoy reading .

Both the National Literacy Trust and the Book Trust have fundraising campaigns this Christmas to send books to children who are vulnerable or in care, or in Britain's poorest communities.

For me, libraries and good bookshops have been a gateway to so much inspiration and happiness. A library card is a passport to new worlds and a free gift to any one.  A good bookshop in your local area is also a delight ...our local one, the Bookshop in Kibworth runs numerous bookgroups in different locations and the shop itself is a inviting, friendly, if not small space.

A few Sundays ago, I was there with lots of others to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the shop opening. Packed with books and people browsing and buying madly for children and adults, it was a  convivial affair with mulled wine and Christmas Cake., and lots of chat with everyone recommending books that they've enjoyed over the last year to others.Of course I bought  books, including 

Jasper's first Christmas book.

Debbie James on the left is the owner of the Bookshop with happy customers

I haven't finished my Christmas shopping yet, and if you haven't done so either, why not pop into your local bookshop and buy a book? Such an important present for anyone at any age, and if you're not sure what to do buy, a book token is a very practical present.

Who knows what new worlds and delights you'll be sending the recipients  this Christmas?

A day with the cockerels for Christmas at Fosse Meadows Farm

So, there's just over four weeks to go until Christmas.

Unlike some highly organised people I know, I haven't bought and wrapped all the gifts yet.
Of course I haven't - hell would freeze over before I managed to do that so early. However, I have started thinking about it ....

For certain food producers though, Christmas is the biggest event of the year., when precision, planning and timing is crucial

I'm talking about those who are providing the poultry which are the star of the show at most Christmas tables, unless you're veggie or vegan.

The other week I went along to Fosse Meadows , a poultry farm, close to the Fosse Way in rural South Leicestershire, a farm owned by Nick Ball (see below ) and his partner Jacob Sykes.

They produce bronze free range turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens and cockerels. On a damp, grey and cold day after torrential rain, Nick drove me from the farmhouse along to the fields and the huts where the cockerels live.

These cockerels are slightly older than the cockerels being reared for Christmas..

Usually, Nick and Jacob sell between 1,800 - 2,000 chickens a week and about 40 to 50 cockerels, but at Christmas , they sell more cockerels.

So where were the Christmas cockerels I wondered. Nick pointed to some other huts. "Show me your cockerels!" I declared....a phrase some of my colleagues said they had never expected to hear on the radio. 

These cockerels are a french breed with much longer legs and are slower growing, and they are sixteen to seventeen weeks when sent for slaughter. Most of them were preferring to stay indoors, eating to their heart's content on the additive free, ethically sourced feed and staying out of the biting wind.

I also learned about why Nick and Jacob don't sell capons.... have a listen to the piece I recorded to find out the operation here at Fosse Meadows....the link is below .

Nick obviously enjoys his life as a successful and ethical poultry farmer, and I know that many  people around the country will be enjoying his prize winning birds too this Christmas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07v31zq

A foodie Friday with mushrooms

As the saying goes "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

I don't usually, but I was rather surprised  when my husband came home with some mushrooms which he had collected. Yes, he'd been mushroom picking.

He's never done anything like this before, yet here were some large specimens...

I must admit I was a little suspicious, he doesn't usually eat mushrooms. So were these all for me?

Were they safe to eat? 

I'm not being funny, but what my husband knows about different types of mushrooms could be written on a postage stamp.  He'd gone to play a round of golf, so why mushrooms now? I consulted the only book I have on mushrooms - a lovely present years ago from Claire Alexia, our cousin in France

Mmn. I still wasn't sure. Who had he played golf with?


 When he said it was our friend Keith I smiled.That man is a mine of practical information. He's an ex Marine who can forage for England. He knows his onions...and mushrooms too. Within moments those mushrooms were being sauteed in butter with garlic and leeks. Stock was added, and when they were cooked, the mixture was liquidised, and reheated with some grated nutmeg and a rather large slug of sherry and double cream. Sea salt and black pepper too.

I had loosely followed Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe for a rather retro, rich mushroom soup. So comforting, so smooth, so delicious, even if I had run out of dry sherry and had to whack in some sweet as sin Pedro Ximinez.

I immediately put in an order with my husband for more mushrooms, and they came...some as big as my hands, some as big as my face. More soup followed.....

The other day, more mushrooms arrived.
 I just fancied them sauteed in butter, with cream and a slug of brandy. I started getting butter and cream from the fridge, when I asked if Keith had picked some too.

"Oh no, he wasn't there today" was the reply.

The butter and cream were swiftly put back in the fridge. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but in this case I made an exception and decided to wait until Keith is there too, when the "gift" is picked.......

Here's the link to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's lovely recipe online .....

https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/creamy-mushroom-soup

Days of lust in our country cottage

I don't usually write blogs about lust. Absolutely not - usually I write about gardens and gardening, food, drink, travel, history and books .

Today though, I'm going to make an exception.

It's been an exhausting week in the cottage, with the heavy, relentless air of unresolved sexual tension.

Here are our dogs Boo on the right and her son, Eric on the left.

Here is Eric with Winnie, our son's dog who's been staying here a while.

All three of them get on very well. I call them "Our gang "

But the gang have been driving each other, and me, mad over the last week or so. Boo and Winnie are in season, and they have been letting us all know about it. Winnie ran off on a walk last week, looking for a one night stand, but fortunately she was in open countryside and there were no other dogs around.

The constant rain this week has also meant  they've been indoors more than usual, and with the only available dog around being Eric, the girls have been parading around like femmes fatales trying to raise his interest.

Eric has been flattered and has been following them around with longing. Both of them.

Boo and Winnie have been positioning themselves right in front of him and Eric has been trying to oblige. He had a certain operation as a puppy though, so has not been able to satisfy their lustful desires, or his.

 So, you can imagine the atmosphere here  and with the constant panting of tall of the dogs, I've felt like throwing a bucket of water over the lot of them.The only time they've quietened down is when they've been fast asleep.

Poor Eric, unable to perform, unlike a dog who lived in the same village as my aunt and uncle in the Cotswolds many years ago..

Nipper, if I remember his name rightly, was an alpha male, who was known throughout the village by everyone. Dog wise, all the females adored him, and it is said he had impregnated most. Their owners hated him, and apparently he was so randy if there wasn't a female dog in heat in any given week, he would go further afield to satisfy his lust.

Nipper did it in style, he used to stand at the bus stop, and then get on the bus to Cheltenham, get off in the centre of town and find a dog on heat  to while away an hour with, and catch the bus back home, pleased as punch.

That was a long time ago though, and back in our cottage, the gang have all been quite restrained today, so hopefully life will gradually be a little less fraught.......