The Food Diaries

Roasted chicken with lemon, thyme and garlic

Take one spatchcocked 1.5kg chicken (or a 500g poussin if serving just a couple of people) and place on a roasting dish (breast side up). Rub all over with either 2-4tbs melted goose fat or olive oil. Season with sea salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh, chopped thyme.

Now lift up the bird by its legs and place 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges, 4 garlic unpeeled cloves, and a few sprigs of thyme underneath.

Place in an oven at 200c for 25 minutes for the poussin or 55 minutes for the chicken, till the juices run clear. Let rest a few minutes before serving with the juices in the pan.

Wiener Schnitzel Bites

I love Wiener Schnitzel, and nobody does it better than the Viennese: crisp and puffed up breadcrumb coating, thinly pounded meat inside (veal, chicken or pork). They serve them in what looks like a giant portion, accompanied by a salad and buttered boiled new potatoes. Perfect Viennese cafe fare.

Here’s how I recreated this dish at home, to be served in bite-sized portions at a drinks/buffet party.

Take 4 thin turkey breast escalopes and pound them with a meat cleaver till they are thinned out considerably. You can also substitute with either chicken, veal or pork. Season with sea salt and pepper. Cut into small-ish triangles.

In three separate shallow bowls place a 1/2 cup flour, 2 beaten eggs, and 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (either regular or Japanese Panko for a crispier finish). Dip each piece of turkey in flour (shaking off any excess), then in egg (dripping off any excess) and then lightly coating in the breadcrumbs.

Once all the pieces have been coated heat up a frying pan with a shallow amount of rapeseed oil (for a richer flavour mix in some duck fat with the oil). Fry the pieces in batches on both sides, till golden, adding more oil as needed between batches.

Drain on paper towels and then serve with lemon wedges and a good-quality mayonnaise.

BBQ chicken marinade with preserved lemons and honey

We’ve had a jump start on the BBQ season in Europe, with summer-like temperatures in April, so here’s a fresh marinade option to get the party started.

It is particularly well-suited to poultry - and as in the case of the photo above a spatchcocked poussin (where the backbone has been removed). This has the benefit of being able to deliver an even, quick cooking as the bird can be laid nice and flat on the barbecue.

In a food processor (or using a mortar and pestle) blend together 150g whole, preserved lemons, 4 garlic cloves, 1 sprig fresh thyme, a small handful of parsley, 90g honey, 50ml olive oil, and 3 red chilis, deseeded.

I like to place 1/2 the marinade in a large ziploc bag, along with the spatchcock poussin (600g/1lb) as it tends to make less of a mess and provides a more even coating. If using a full-sized chicken (1.2kg/2lb) then use all the marinade and place in a baking dish. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (though overnight is ideal) and then grill over a hot, covered BBQ (or an oven at 220c will do), for 20-25 minutes, till the juices run clear. Leave to rest a few minutes before cutting into four pieces to serve.

Curried wild rice and chicken soup

This is a great recipe to use with bits of a leftover roast chicken.

Make a stock using the carcass of the roast chicken, whatever bits of meat are leftover (if not, substitute with a couple extra chicken thighs). 1 each of onion, carrot and celery (chopped), cover with water and simmer for about an hour. Meanwhile, simmer 1 cup of wild rice in 4 cups water till the wild rice pops (the white interior will emerge). This will take about 50 minutes.

Strain the stock and In a blender puree together the onion, carrot, celery and the chicken meat (moisten with a little stock). Return to the pot with the rest of the stock and heat through. Now add 1 tbs curry paste, 1 tbs mustard, 1tbs tomato paste, 200ml soy cream or light cream, and season to taste with sea salt and pepper.

Serve in soup bowls with a large garnish of the wild rice and roasted flaked almonds.

Optional: For additional crunch and colour you can add a garnish of onion, carrot and celery, finely diced and softened in a little olive oil. You can also add a drizzle of walnut oil.

Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken with Red Camargue Rice Mushroom Pilaf

How I made it:

Brush a 1.5kg chicken (serves 4-5) with melted butter (or I like to use goose fat which has a lovely flavour). Here’s a tip: I pour the contents of a can of goose fat into ice cube trays and freeze into conveniently-sized portions which I can pop individually into the microwave as and when I need them. Sprinkle with some dried (or fresh) thyme, salt and pepper, and stuff the cavity with chopped lemon and garlic. Bake in an oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes per 500g (you may need an extra 10 minutes or so depending on your oven), first with the breast side down and then turn back up for the last 20 minutes. Let rest before serving (during which time you can make a gravy if you like with the pan juices - though Marks & Spencers makes a truly wonderful one if you can’t be bothered)

I served this with some red Camargue and long grain brown rice (see the first part of the following recipe on cooking instructions) mixed with some briefly sauted mushrooms (fried with a little olive oil, parsley and some salt and pepper).

Rancho Santa Fe, California - New Year’s day lunch

Hosted by Robert with lunch prepared by Lena.

On the menu:

- Grilled chicken

- Grilled sirloin strips,

- Served with a mix leaf salad

- Pineapple and chocolate ice cream (PacoJet style!)

- And of course a bottle of lovely California red Cabernet Sauvignon