Home Cooked Fried Chicken and the Brine Process | The Lost Posts…

Note to reader on “The Lost Posts”;  This is a series of blog posts that I either started, or took photos with full intentions of blogging, and then life took over and I never got around to it. I actually wrote this particular post on my way to Atlanta in February 2015 – it’s taken me a year to publish.

I just love fried chicken. I know what you’re thinking. How very truly stereotypical. I mean I can live without chicken. If I were on a desert island (yes, sometimes I do think about this) and I had a choice of fish or chicken for the rest of my life, I would choose fish every time. Especially if seafood is thrown into that category. The options for fish outweigh chicken so much. There are so many types, ways to cook it and it never gets boring.

But chicken is SO good. I seriously don’t understand how vegetarians can give it up!

Clockjack – Rotisserie Chicken in the heart of Piccadilly

Last year, the UK was still partaking in the burger revolution. I couldn’t keep up with the number of restaurants springing up dedicated to burgers, some of which I am still yet to work my way around. Meanwhile, for those that wanted something a little more “clucky”, two and a half years ago, Clockjack opened its doors in London as the first specialist rotisserie chicken restaurant featuring high tech rotisserie ovens.

I recently visited Clockjack on behalf of tastecard to sample review, on a day when I was hot-desking in London and wanted a tasty but healthy lunch which would give me energy for my gym session I had planned for the evening. Clockjack fitted the bill as it’s extremely rare that you find chicken that has been cooked in such a healthy manner.

British Pie Week | Nigella Lawson | Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Puff Pastry Pie | Recipe

Last week (4th – 10th March 2013) was a special foodie week. It was British Pie Week. I’m British. So I baked the easiest midweek pie I could muster around a packed solid busy work week.

I’ve made Nigella’s Chicken and Bacon Pot Pie so many times its unbelievable. It’s so easy to make and looks perfect every time. I change bits and generally use whatever I can find in the fridge. The only compulsory additions are chicken, mushrooms and some sort of green veg (preferably broccoli or spinach). Here’s my own rough method.

Persian Chicken and Avocado Salad at Leon Restaurant | Summer Food

Summer is here and we’re all striving to tone up, lose weight, look hot and for some of us – show off pieces of our body that nobody wants to see. Ever.

Anyway enough of some of the sights I see in London – have you been to Leon recently? They’ve not long ago introduced a super tasty Persian Chicken and Avocado Salad.

When Leon introduces their new additions to their menu they do it in the most wonderful way – using social networking and placards outside of their restaurant. The marketing certainly works for me (as you may have seen in my Poached Egg Cups post). I regularly find myself hot-footing it into the nearest branch (almost always Old Compton Street) to feed my food fetish.

Recipe | Stylist Magazine Recipe | Glazed scallops with apple and pistachio; Pan-fried duck breast with raspberry and balsamic sauce

Birthdays to me generally mean food, and theres nothing I like more than cooking (duh).

I anticipated a very special birthday meal last month by planning ahead with a very special menu:

Starter: Scallops with apple and pistachio dressing

Main: breast of duck with raspberry sauce

The bulk of time was spent prepping the ingredients. To start I had a whole duck to dissect. It’s amazing what you can get out of a whole duck! I portioned it courtesy of YouTube’s assistance:

My effort:

The breast I set aside for the birthday main, I also took off the legs, seasoned everything apart from the breasts and put it in the oven to roast – that was one week day dinner along with pancakes, cucumber and hoisin sauce, not to mention the duck fat I have waiting to grace Sunday roast potatoes.

To prep the sauce for the scallops I had to soften the apples with cinnamon, cloves and star anise, add pistachios, then blend everything and put through a sieve. That was one part of the sauce. The other part of the sauce required pistachios, extra virgin olive oil, again blended. Sauces done. I then had to warm a mixture of red wine vinegar, a few saffron strands and some honey, fry the scallops for 2 mins on each side, then dip one side of each scallop in the honey before serving with each of my dressings.

The duck was a pretty straight forward feat. Fried for 4 mins on each side (then added a little extra time for preference) I left them to rest, then added balsamic vinegar to the pan, the juice of one orange and the raspberries.

Note: at this point I was running over a bit time-wise so I decided not to pass my raspberry sauce through a sieve – school boy error, do you know how many little seeds are in raspberries? If one must cut time, it would have been better to have not passed the apple mixture through a sieve as the consistency wasn’t marginally different.

Nevertheless, I’d say both dishes came out as expected. I served the main with my famous heavenly light mashed potato, and greens (of course!) The flavour was perfect, we were both so full after eating – no space for dessert. Now here is the finished result and recipes should you want to try them.

Saffron glazed scallops with apple and pistachio purée and pistachio oil

Actual recipe taken from this issue of Stylist Magazine

Pan-fried duck breast with raspberry and balsamic sauce and roasted vegetables

by Gino D’Acampo

(I skipped the roast veg part)

Recipe | Chinese Food in Minutes | Sweet Chilli Chicken recipe | Ching wasn’t lying!

Yesterday I watched 5 episodes of “Chinese Food in Minutes”. I became mesmerised with Ching-He Huang and her ability to cook delicious looking food in such a short space of time. I often forget how quickly Chinese food can be prepared.

I had decided. I was going to attempt her  Sweet Chilli Chicken. It would be the first time I deep fry in my wok. I was scared. Her recipe gave a good tip of testing the heat of the oil by dropping a cube of bread and seeing if it browned in 15 mins. Test complete. I cooked.