This is brilliant; it’s scathing, farcical, satirical and ultimately satisying. Such a well woven tale. I can’t put it better than John Mullan, who spotted way more connections and hints than I did when the book was discussed for the Guardian Book Club.
This is Orwell’s own radio adaptation. It’s bloody amazing. Sent shivers down my spine.
I found a Waitrose roast chicken thighs & potatoes recipe online which suited the ingredients I’d got to hand. It wasn’t a bad meal considering the minimal amount of effort and lack of planning. The thighs turned out well with lovely crispy skin – before putting in the tray I sprinkled the skin with salt and leaving to draw the moisture out, then dried with kitchen roll. I did find it necessary to take the thighs out and then return the potatoes to the oven to brown. The potatoes are a little bit dry too so might be nice to serve with something to counter this such as gravy.
6 March 2013
I watched an episode of Perfect (Roast) in which Mark Sargeant made a similar dish but he cooked his potatoes beforehand.
What I did
Preheat oven to 175C.
Peel 2 very large Maris Pipers. Cut into roastie size chunks. Parboil in UNsalted water for 5 mins. Drain and allow all steam to escape.
Tenderise the 4 large chicken thighs a la Jamie i.e. put them between greaseproof and smack with a rolling pin, then spread a mix of 1 tsp fennel (ground), 1 deseeded chopped fresh red chilli, salt and minced garlic under the skin. Then salt the skin to draw moisture out – leave for about 5 mins – and dab dry with kitchen roll.
Cube half a peeled celariac. Toss that and the potatoes in olive oil, garlic salt and a little powdered chilli. Arrange in large baking tray lined with parchment along with thighs. Put lemon segments from 1 large lemon in as well. Give the potatoes and celariac an extra dab of oil with a brush then bake for 40 mins.
Switch to grill to crisp up chicken skin and brown the celariac and potatoes.
Serve with green veg.
Verdict
The chicken was overcooked though the skin got nice and crispy under the grill. The potatoes were better than last time for being parboiled and the celariac was underdone. Nothing was inedible but overall it was a disappointment.
What I should have done was take the chicken out when it got to 60C (this would have been after 20 -25 mins) and let it rest until the rest of the meal was ready; it wouldn’t have done it any harm.
I think this is the problem with one tray bakes: you can’t get everything done as well as doing it all separately. Next time I will cook the chicken in the small oven at 175C with the flavourings and lemon segments until they get to 60C, and rest under loose kitchen roll and foil. I will make wedges and roast celeriac in the large oven at 175C + fan. Finally I will grill the chicken skin only to crisp it up.
This is a delicious, substantial and cheap meal. The flatbreads are gorgeous soaked in the sauce. I served with undressed green salad leaves.
Kefta Mkaouara adapted from a food blog recipe.
Meatball ingredients:
500g minced beef
3/4 tsp salt (1 tsp is a bit too salty)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp hot paprika powder
1 small onion, chopped finely and fried till translucent
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley
Sauce ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped finely
2 rounded tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 heaped tsp ras el hanout
1 heaped tsp harissa
2 400g cans chopped tomatoes
eggs for poaching
cooking olive oil
Directions:
Combine the minced beef with the cooked onion, salt, cumin, hot paprika and chopped parsley by hand. Make about 20 equal sized meatballs and sear the outsides in a hot pan.
The heat needs to stay low throughout the making of the sauce. Fry onions, add flavouring ingredients and fry a little to bring out flavour, then add tinned tomatoes and simmer. Liquidise if lumpy. Ensure that there is enough sauce and it is loose enough to poach eggs in. Add meatballs 20 mins from the end to cook through and eggs 5 mins from the end to poach. Don’t interfere with the eggs more than necessary as the yolks may break.
Moroccan flatbreads adapted from a BBC Food recipe.
I added 2 tbsp groundnut oil to the following as I don’t like flatbread to be too chewy:
200g/7¼oz plain flour
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
boiling water, to bind
pinch of salt
Method is exactly the same as making chapattis. Makes 8.
This recipe is from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. He serves it with salmon fillets and Jersey Royals but in the programme he says it would go with plenty of other food such as white fish or chicken.
Ingredients:
leaves from half a bunch fresh mint
small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
1 clove garlic
4 anchovy fillets
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 heaped tsp capers
2 cornichons
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Blitz in food processor until combined. Check for seasoning. Serve in a small bowl.
This is a recipe from Ching’s Chinese Food Made Easy which I borrowed from the library last year. Yesterday I found some leftover sesame sauce in the freezer and used it to flavour a slightly bland veg and noodle stirfry. The sauce is quite acidic but with my stirfry the result was fantastic. I didn’t have the recipe but happily I found it on someone’s food blog:
This recipe is more of a template for me than something to follow to the letter e.g. I like to make the sesame sauce quite thick, omitting a lot of the water for the stock cube, and doubling the amount of tahini. The black rice vinegar can be reduced to 1 tsp as it is very strong.
It’s not often that I rave about a TV series but this latest nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough is simply superb. Visually stunning, these stories from the African animal kingdoms inspire wonder, delight and occasionally sadness.
The method I use is based on Heston’s in In Search of Perfection.
I use Maris Piper (floury), peeled and boiled in salted water using 10g salt per litre of water for 10 mins or until just starting to break apart. I set the oven to 175C with fan. I use olive oil to roast, pouring it into a roasting tray to a depth of about 2-3mm (don’t skimp) and heating the oil up for 10 mins before adding the parboiled potato. I turn the potatoes every 15 mins to get all the sides browned and crunchy. They take about an hour and can’t be rushed; the turning the temperature up results in them getting too dark without getting a thick, glassy crisp side.
Tonight I cooked pheasant breast. I’ve cooked whole pheasant before and the breast was succulent while the legs were tough as old boots so now I just stick to pan-frying breasts coated with seasoned flour.
I would like to try the sauce from Valentine Warner’s pheasant recipe next time.
This is the reading group book for this month. It’s a short book but packed with drama, action and emotion. It evokes childhood memories very well. The central theme of the book is the power of friendship. It reminds me very much of the Stephen King story Stand By Me, right down to the group of friends running away and a vomiting child who sets off several other vomiters.
Some parts of the plot seemed a little far-fetched, for example, the real identity of Tony’s Polish stepfather. Everyone always seemed to be crying, even some of the men. The book doesn’t paint a very appealing picture of life in a small Scottish village in the late 60s. But the pace of the book and the amount packed into it kept me turning the pages. Spit Against the Wind is a very enjoyable read.